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West Linn, Oregon
Before Abby Egland left for college, she cleaned out her bedroom closet…
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I grew up in a place where environmental issues were rarely discussed unless it was something that might directly affect our lives. My awareness of the environment has grown every year since I left home.
When I landed in China a few years ago, I, like everybody in China, was using single-use chopsticks to eat every meal. One day as a friend and I were eating lunch we starting talking about chopsticks and wondered how many chopsticks were used per year considering China’s population size. This simple question would prove to be the catalyst for an innovative coupling of art and conservationism. Through some research we found some pretty crazy statistics about the amount of trees used to make these little sticks and the environmental impact they have; by some estimates, 25 million trees and bamboo plants are used annually to support that resource waste. Ever since then I have been designing and selling products, and trying to save as many chopsticks from the dump as possible.
Greater than the impact of actually saving these sticks from the dump is, I believe, creating awareness of this problem and promoting the
re-use of resources. Although not an angel, I try to be a good person, and not be lazy when it comes to doing the right thing. I am proud that my business is one that is not creating a big stress on the well-being of our earth.
The business is Kwytza (the Chinese word for chopsticks, pronounced k-why-tsa) Kraft. The idea is simple: collect post-use, single-use chopsticks from restaurants, thoroughly clean them, sanitize them at extremely high temperature and pressure, and use them to make high-quality accents for the consumer’s living space.
The future of single-use chopsticks and the impact to the world’s forests are unknown. I genuinely hope that one day I will no longer be able to make my recycled products as a result of heightened preservation efforts. However, until then, I hope you will enjoy my exquisitely designed accents of enduring quality and ecological significance.
You can see Bryan’s work at:
p.o. box 1771 | hillsboro oregon 97123
503.681.2527