It was a rare occasion, my brother had actually lent me his Donald Duck comic magazines!
That didn't come easy, I had to ask him for this favor in an exact wording, decided by him, and he wanted me to repeat it until it sounded like I meant it. And most of the time he didn’t want to lend them to me anyway.
But this day was my lucky day, and it was perfect to curl up on the sofa we had in the kitchen in our country house. The rain was pouring, making a calming, drumming noise on the window. I had no interest in going out to play.
I prepared myself with pillows, blankets and hot chocolate, got cozy on the sofa and started to read. Afterwards, one by one, I neatly put them in the “read” pile since I had developed my somewhat irritating tidying tic already then.
I’m sure you also remember the corny stories of Miss Piggy and Co. and wondered what it would be like swimming in a pool with coins like grandpa Duck. Myself, I was a bit jealous of Gyro Gearloose who constantly came up with all these funny inventions.
While dreaming about being clever and smart, and having this fantastic idéa, my brother comes charging in with his Swedish wooden shoes on. The loud noise from his angry stomping woke me up from my dreams of my imaginary masterpiece. He was bending over with a serious look on his face, eyebrows pulled together making this deep wrinkle between them. “Time is up” he declared while pointing at the clock hanging over the kitchen sink. He inspected the magazines with intensity and muttered something that they were fine, even if his annoying little sister had had them in her hands.
A few years have passed since then, and I still haven't come up with anything new or life-changing, but recently I had the pleasure to meet an inventor in real life!
An amazing swiss inventor
She is a lovely young Swiss woman, and her name is Tanja Schenker. She is the first person in the whole wide world to make fake leather out of apples!
As a designer and CEO of the company Happy Genie, she has made these beautiful luxury handbags out of apple-leather! She started a Happy Genie Kickstarter project and has already reached her original goal, but you can still get engaged and support.
When she started her research about the leather industry, where she first turned, was shocked about what she found out and decided to come up with something new.
The truth about the leather industry
Many people wouldn't dream of wearing fur anymore, which is awesome. What most people don't think about, is that leather is the same thing, animal skin, just with no hair or fur on it.
Leather has the stigma to it of quality and durability, and we use it for a lot of things; shoes, belts, wallets, and furniture.
But the reality behind leather is a bit more dramatic than what's commonly known, to put it mildly. It's a horrific industry with over a billion animals killed every year.
Most people also think that leather is just a by-product. Unfortunately, I have to tell you that's not the case. The profits from leather are actually fueling the meat and dairy industry. This means that buying leather directly contributes to the suffering of animals on factory farms and slaughterhouses.
Many animals are killed exclusively for these products, and they endure brutal treatment for the entirety of their lives.
To learn more about the leather industry you can go here, informative in German and English.
You can learn more here (but be aware that the images and information in this link are very upsetting.)
There are more and more people who are choosing not to buy or wear animal skin. When you get to know and realize the truth behind it, it becomes kind of repelling.
Cool &
But don’t worry, there are plenty of cool and
I’m sure you want to be chick and cruelty-free, so to help you get started and inspired, go and have a look at Tanjas apple-leather-luxury-handbags at Happy Genie.
And, get to know some of the other leather alternatives at this handy list by Eluxe Magazine.
With so many amazing new inventions coming up to the surface at quite a speed recently, I can still live waiting for mine. As long as we all strive to make this world a better place for everyone, one step at a time I´m happy. You are as well, am I right?
