Original T-Bag Designs

  Original T-bag Designs, a group of artisans from an under-resourced area south of Cape Town, incorporate their beautifully hand-painted tea bags into a variety of products.  Tea bags are donated from around the world to make this possible.  Once they are dried, the tea is removed and the paper becomes a canvas for the local ‘tea bag artists’! Each artist hand paints his/her own patterns on the tea bag and then it is used to make the unique designs on their product collections. Jill Heyes moved to the Western Cape from UK in 1996.  She was taken by the poverty from the local township of ImizamoYethu in Hout Bay, just south of Cape Town, South Africa, and was compelled to help throw a hand of friendship out to some of the local women from this community. This hand has resulted in much more than providing women employment.  Both men and women now provide for themselves and their families and enjoy the environment at Original T-Bag design that thrives on determination, cooperation, confidence, and pride that did not before exist in the lives of Jill’s t-bag team.