Dria Peterson's Handmade Creations, Born From a Geneology of Vegetarianism and Recycling

It’s not every day that you come across something called a “Feminist Woman Eco Art Doll” – whether you’re looking on Etsy or elsewhere.  But for Dria Peterson, its creator, it is only natural.

Because why wouldn’t you make new things out of recycled and vintage fabrics, and reclaimed handspun sheep’s wool?  Oh, and did we mention that everything is handmade?

Dria lives in the Amirim vegetarian village in the Galilee region of Israel, where her family lives an actively sustainable life.  Her mom and brother are bakers and have a whole meal bakery, her other brother is a carpenter and makes ecological and organic wooden toys and furniture, and her sister runs a small health food shop.  Oh, and they all do it in the same place – at the family home: Bait 77.

So with such a green background, is it any wonder Dria’s creations include the Feminist Woman Eco Art Doll?

Dria says that recycling and reusing were normal parts of her life when she was growing up, but that beyond that she has always loved to make things.  Even as a child, she remembers knitting clothes for her dolls.

But her full blown production and opening of her shop (both her physical shop in Bait 77 and her two virtual shops on Etsy) did not begin until after her daughter was born.  As she recalls, “When I went to second hand shops to buy baby clothes, I always found some item from amazing fabric, but not necessarily something I wanted to wear.  Using these old clothes to make something else seemed natural.  And so I started making dolls, bags, and hats from all kinds of scrap fabrics, and putting them in the family shop was the next step.”

Now she doesn’t need to source her materials from second hand stores because people give her old fabrics and garments all the time.  She also collects materials from Amirim’s twice-a-week second hand swap shop, where people bring their unwanted items and can take whatever they want for free.  (Once a month, all the extra unwanted stuff is donated to a nearby charity.)

Check out Dria’s dolls in her Driaa shop, and her reclaimed denim creations at The Denim Fairy.

Read more about eco-friendly dolls::

Manuella Design Dolls Never Run Out of Steam

Green Lullaby Makes Recycled Dollhouses and Doll Cradles

Neta in Wonderland (via Tel Aviv)

Author: Karen Chernick

Much to the disappointment of her Moroccan grandmother, Karen became a vegetarian at the age of seven because of a heartfelt respect for other forms of life. She also began her journey to understand her surroundings and her impact on the environment. She even starting an elementary school Ecology Club and an environmental newsletter in the 3rd grade. (The proceeds of the newsletter went to non-profit environmental organizations, of course.) She now studies in New York. Karen can be reached at karen (at) greenprophet (dot) com.

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