Jefferson Crafts
Jefferson Crafts are the mum and daughter team, Sonya and Danni, ably supported by Danni’s boyfriend Lewis, when university allows, and other willing family members. This talented duo began their business in 2018 and can be found at their permanent base at Unit 26 Watford Indoor Market, online, at the Harpenden Sustainability Market and various other events and markets in the district. When they’re not serving customers this busy pair will be found knitting and sewing their reusable home and personal products. Danni took a well earned rest to answer a few questions for us.
What does your business do?
We take fabric that would have otherwise gone to landfill and turn it into reusables for the home. We are so lucky with the generosity of local alteration companies who often drop bags of fabric on our doorstep, we also have links with printing companies who donate mis-prints and end of roll fabrics, and, of course, friends and customers give us good quality material that they aren’t using. We use all kinds of fabrics for our designs and this means that we use up all of the scraps. Along with the ever popular make-up remover pads we also make decorations such as door wreaths to ensure we use up the smaller pieces.
Our most recent product development are reusable party packages where we loan out all of the tableware and decorations needed for a children’s party. Not only does this cost less than it would to buy all of these bits, we even do the washing up and so all the hirer needs to do is clear the plates, pop them back in the box and return them to us. Entirely waste and hassle free! We even have an environmentally friendly alternative to balloons.
How does your business help the District become more sustainable?
When customers and businesses donate their leftover fabric to us we are helping everyone cut down on what they are sending to landfill. When people purchase our goods we are truly closing the loop in repurposing this fabric for a new life thus preventing the use of more raw materials and the generation of more waste. Did you know women use more than 11000 sanitary pads in their lifetime, not including dailies? One of our pads will last for years of use and are really easy to wash with your regular loads.
Who are your favourite customers?
We don’t have favourite customers and that’s the truth! We love hearing from everyone wherever they are on their sustainability journey, we love people who are just starting out with reusables, those that are buying as gifts and we also love our customers to give us feedback on our products or to tell us of a book or tv programme they think we will like or have seen.
What is your favourite thing about St Albans District?
As life long ‘Snorbinners’ we don’t think you’d find a better place to live. We are so thankful that our business has been so well received by everyone, we’ve not had a single negative comment about our mission.
Do you have a funny market stall story?
When trading every day on the market we often have funny stories but the one we tell most often is why we don’t display our sanitary products. Sonya made a lovely A-board with exactly how we make our sanitary ware that we displayed with a small suitcase of products. The second time we put them on display a 3 year old boy decided he wanted one, his mum wouldn’t tell him what it was which just made him want it more! We told him it’s not for boys, it’s for mummy’s at which point he lay on the pavement and screamed for a good 5 mins until mum finally managed to coax him away. The next week a different child did the same thing and so the A-board went away but that hasn’t stopped the under 8’s from wanting these mysterious things.
What is your best eco tip?
Our eco tip to everyone who visits our stall is just do your best, try not to be overwhelmed by what you can’t do and focus on what you can do to make positive change. It all helps!
We’re looking forward to more of Sonya and Danni’s industrious creations at our next Sustainability Market on 19th March on Harpenden Common.