The role of the Craftsperson is to turn naturally occurring, renewable materials into objects of love; there are potters, woodworkers, glass blowers, and textile artists. Through this intimacy with material, usually comes a consciousness of sustainability. By examining ‘craft’ in its full breadth, we should hopefully identify innovative ways to establish prosperous and rewarding enterprises within our own discipline; learning from each other and noting what ideas are currently working in practise.
Posy and Pia are two girls living in the North East of England, who have started up their own business, Grow to Glow. They craft sustainable skincare products, which focus on the power of plants, making simple ointments, balms, creams and infused oils, using foraged plants that can be grown or foraged in the UK. They also run workshops teaching others how to identify and gather certain plants, and how to make products using them. Grow to Glow aims to “inspire people to connect with the properties and heritage of local plants through great skincare”.
The Woodland Trust’s 2011 Stake of UK Forest Report, states that ‘Forestry and related industries form a relatively small part of the UK economy, reflecting the small size of the UK forest area and use of the resource’. However with small businesses like Grow to Glow, the importance of our local woodlands and their potential can be made known to a wider community, by engaging them in workshops and crafted products. Particularly with there being a greater importance to live self-sufficiently, homemade products from locally grown, raw materials is definitely a promising way forward. Enterprises like this also lend themselves to re-fill schemes, which reduce the need for abundant packaging and containers.
The pair have just recently finished a batch of deep green Comfrey Ointment, which is scented with beeswax and made with just three ingredients – foraged comfrey leaves, almond oil and local beeswax. The ointment is a general healing balm, as comfrey promotes healthy cell division and speeds up healing- making it ideal for craftspeople, who suffer from rough skin, aches and pains, scrapes and bumps! Comfrey has a long history as a healing herb, being used to treat the armies of Alexander the Great in 400 BC. Each pot of their ‘Green Gold’ comes complete with the story of comfrey, tiny booklets detailing some history and points of interest in a story format. Comfrey Ointment is fully cosmetically approved, and has already had lots of promising feedback.
The girls have three more products within their exciting range, which are all cosmetically approved and will be available this Summer.
Explore Grow to Glow further here:
http://growtoglow.bigcartel.com
THIS GIRL MAKES 
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