ELVIS AND KRESSE- A SUATAINABLE LUXURY
A fire hose has been a blessing in disguise for the entire human civilization. There have been small accidents and huge accidents pertaining to fire happening every single day around the world. But the fire hose that gives a second life to thousands of people doesn’t get a chance for itself to do so. Because once the fire hose is damaged to a point that it is beyond repair it goes to the landfill. And the entire purpose of its life vanishes.
A couple called Elvis and Kresse who were passionate about fire fighters visited a London based firefighting station in 2005. There they learnt about this fate of the damaged fire hose. They fell in love with these fire hose and termed them as brave old hoses and planned on a way to honor them by making them exist longer and thus mounted them a rescue.
They said, “The hose was too beautiful, had too much left to give to be consigned to the scrap-heap.” They had figured out that the British hoses were made to go through the harshest environments and thus they thought of redesigning it beyond a single use of fire fighting. Thus, they worked with highly skilled craftsmen and strived in building as much value as they can into each piece.
That’s how this couple founded a new brand of their own called ‘Elvis and Kresse’ which is now a well-known luxury brand in UK. It was established by the motive to save the London’s decommissioned fire hose. ‘Elvis and Kresse’ is all about making high quality bags, belts, wallets and many more different accessories which are solely made of given up materials. It all started with saving the fire hose and now they have added an entire list of materials which goes to waste and which can be modified beautifully to give us long lasting items which we can make use of and thus increase the life of the materials. They donate 50% of their profits to the Fire Fighters Charity.
Apart from fire hose now they have ventured into using materials like parachute silk, printing blankets, leather, coffee and tea sacks, shoe boxes and auction banners.
“We dream of a time without landfill, when everything is recycled or composted. Between now and then we know there are far too many incredible materials that will either languish underground or suffer the indignity of incineration; when that happens we lose, we lose quality, narrative, and the opportunity to do something great. So, we intercede, choosing story laden materials of incredible character, and do everything we can to ensure their second life is as long as possible.”-Elvis and Kresse.
Link : www.elvisandkresse.com
