Kenyan firm turns flip-flops into art

Here's a true definition of "One man's trash is another man's treasure." Who would have thought that the filp flops that we are all guilty of discarding at the beach would one day be put into such great use? The sad part about this is that it took a foreigner to see what we've had infront of us the whole time.

According to the Guardian, Julie Church founded an artisan manufacturing company that turns dirty and discarded flip flops into animal ornaments and jewelry. Julie Church's artisan manufacturing company, Ocean Sole, turned about 50 tonnes of dirty, discarded and damaged flip-flops into animal ornaments and jewellery in 2013. She anticipates doubling that amount this year, and will pay 25p per kilo to whoever brings them in.


Sales have tripled in the last year and it is reaching a global market supplying some of the world's most famous zoos and aquariums. "Their shops are usually full of stuff that is so bad for the environment," Church says.

 

Here's one of their biggest creations, Twiga the giraffe.

 

Ocean Sole's production manager, Idah Marangu, has just overseen the manufacturing of nearly 200 plastic bison for an American bison association. Distinctive bright stripes run the length of the stocky little body, which was a challenge for her team of artisan carvers, who are used to African safari animals.

Jonathan Lenato, 30, is one such trained carver who sits shaping a dolphin – his seventh that day. He reveals that he has a hard time explaining to his friends what he does. "It's strange, unique – and everybody wants to see". Conversations inevitably require him to explain why dirty flip-flops are his raw material of choice. "I tell them how they damage marine life. My friends have learned", he says.

The next challenge for Ocean Sole is to "up-cycle" dirty old flip-flops to produce shoes from shoes.