ORIGINAL T-BAG DESIGNS

The artists from Original T-Bag Designs live in an informal settlement located in Mandela Park, outside of Cape Town in South Africa. Their homes are bits of tin and wood nailed together and they have had no formal schooling.
But what they do have is grit and imagination and a desire to make their families' lives better. The artists use recycled tea bags as their canvases - and they are painting themselves out of poverty.
Used tea bags are collected and dried in the African sun. Then they are emptied of leaves and carefully ironed. Finally, each tea bag is painstakingly painted. They work mostly at home during these early phases so they can care for their families while they work. Sometimes the little ones help by emptying out tea leaves.