With a determination to create decorative art and pursue beautiful crafts like raku fired terracotta, recycled glass for mosaic art, paper-craft, basketry, water-hyacinth craft, volcanic-stone carving, textile weaving and plant dying, Batic, fine art painting on natural textiles and the art of hand carving among others, sustainability is always the first thought behind any of the projects undertaken by Décor Art Interiors in Hillcrest.
Started more than two decades ago by environmentally conscious owner Angie Scholey – an advocate for ensuring sustainable forestry and reforestation, and a strong supporter of not destroying habitats for the purpose of financial gain – her showroom of treasures must be one KZN’s best kept secrets, with her high standard of items filling a large gap in affordable home interior and exterior design.
This enhancing business, specialising in forestry approved only Burmese teak, has been thriving for 28 years and offers a creation of handcrafted furniture, paintings and sculptures that are made locally and imported. Many of the items are aesthetically pleasing as well as functional, and showcase huge creative talent behind their making, while always emphasizing awareness towards the importance of sustainability.
From starting Décor Art Interiors, The Angie Peni Foundation was established to encourage the planting of trees and to educate against eliminating rainforest wood for the use of handcrafting furniture. The aim is in an effort to maintain sustainability for future generations and help save the orangutans along with other various threatened wildlife species and their habitats.
“We also built a community centre from ruins after the looting in KZN in 2021, with the initiative to rebuild hope in the community. Our creative training centre offers various craft courses including art classes by South African artist Eve Page.”
Angie encourages small business support rather than mass production and asserts the importance of choosing purchases that have sustainable forest attributes always in mind to her close network and customers.
“We have a holistic approach to ensure forest activities deliver social, environmental and economic benefits while balancing wildlife habitats and protecting the biodiversity of all living things like trees, animals, plants, soil, water and airm as well as abiotic – non-living components – now and in the future. Ecological sustainability helps to combat global warming and there is an urgency to mitigate this.”
Angie says they are always conscious of meeting the needs of the present but without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. “To ensure sustainable forestry and reforestation techniques we need to support the use of essential products that don’t contribute to deforestation and global warming as they are based on renewable materials. This should be something consumers consider when deciding who to support for their needs.”
‘Education is the most powerful weapon we have for changing the world.’- Nelson Mandela
Here are some tips and advice from Angie on how to start including sustainability in our daily living:
- Eco-friendly living and buildings – refuse straws when dining out
- Make sure waste is waste only.
- Reduce food wastage – eat local from a community garden.
- Buy second-hand clothing – thrifting is in; ditch fast fashion and animal based textiles.
- Choose organic and replace removed trees to protect environment – eliminate extinction.
- Start a neighbourhood compost bin.
- Reduce your carbon footprint – drive green.
- Reduce unnecessary consumption of water and energy
- Simplify holidays with responsible consumption – use recycled paper, plastic, glass and aluminium and keep oceans clean.
- Think before you shop – every single person can make a difference.
Details: Décor Art Interiors, 1 Warwickshire Crescent, Old Main Rd, Bothas Hill. Phone: 031 765 5632
