The Tale of Brazil + the BottleTop bags

So almost every country has a ghetto somewhere, where people are oftentimes forced to eek out a base, subsistence lifestyle.

Those are the people whom society often looks at as 'incompetent' or 'lazy'; people whom society regards as being a scourge on the lands, people who apparently don't care enough to change their situations. And yet, in the favelas of Salvador, Brazil, there's a group of women proving society wrong, right this minute.

Seeking an alternative from the narrow - and bone-chilling - options available to them, these women collect used bottle caps/soda pulls, wash them, sort them into colours, crotchet them together by hand, and craft stylish bags (like the one above) that fetch upwards of 50.00 pounds a piece.

The best part about the BottleTop bags, is that the project (formed Cameron Saul, the son of Mulberry bag founder, Roger Saul) marries a neat recycling scheme whilst empowering the women, AND contributing to sex health education in Brazil, Africa and the U.K.. Talk about changing fates!

The BottleTop bags are sold mainly in the UK, and can be had online at Fenchurch.

L.M.N. Harris