THE STORY BEHIND THE NAME:
EAT MIELIES
Here you can read about the ways I'm working on making my business more sustainable, especially regarding the packaging of products :)
Kim is a South African living in Amsterdam. The name "Eat Mielies" was derived from one of Kim's favourite South African words (Mielies = corn on the cob) as she feels a small amount of home sickness mixed with joy whenever she thinks of her mother calling "Who wants a mielie?" at the dinner table, and specifically about the time when her mother pretended to chuck a mielie across the table at somebody and accidentally smashed her new Christmas Wine Glass in the process.
Kim started her weird illustration business accidentally, while she was supposed to be studying music. She wanted to create the weird products she wished she could find in the shops.
She started by making a handful of products which her friends bought from her. She did two markets in Amsterdam and was pleasantly surprised to see strangers laughing their heads off at her stuff. Then she somehow found herself selling in a concept store in Amsterdam (The Maker Store) and to everyone's surprise, discovered that people couldn't get enough penis cards. The rest is history!
Now you can find Kim's weird products in stores around the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and the UK, much to the dismay of her mum.
Sustainability journey
GREETING CARDS
Greeting cards come with a 100% recycled envelope made from 100% post consumer waste (um, how cool). They are made in the EU and are chlorine free.
The protective "plastic" bags that you'll see around the cards are actually not plastic! They are made in the UK from clear compostable vegetable starch - renewable PLA derived from corn / potato starch. They are fully biodegradable and compostable, breaking down to CO2, H2O and biomass (compost), which can then be reused in the eco system to make new plants.
They should be disposed of in a home or commercial composting system, but if they end up in a landfill they will still break down to CO2 and water. In a commercial composting the temperature will be higher and the process is much quicker. In a colder home composter it will just take longer.