A Couple of Odd Bits

Local crafty upcyclers Denise Arnst and Dawn Wood have repurposing in their blood.  Denise’s mother came from a family of 20 and always “made do”, once carpeting a five bedroom house from scraps of carpet.  Dawn’s father worked at a fabric importing warehouse and as a child her mother made all of her dresses from fabric samples. She remembers having one colour for the front, one for the back and the pockets from another.  The two friends are carrying on their family traditions with their business, Oddbits, which counts the Mangere Bridge Village Boutique Market as home. 

The inspiration for Oddbits came during Denise’s stint in the cutting room of several top New Zealand fashion labels, where she saw four-five mini skips of fabric offcuts sent to landfill every week.  Unable to live with the wastage, Denise began lugging bags of offcuts home on the train, which she passed on to schools to be repurposed.  When illness forced her to leave her job, Denise was looking for something to do and decided to start sewing.

The Oddbits range is a beautiful, quirky mix of handmade children’s clothing, toys and homewares, all made from upcycled fabric and bric-a-brac.  Tablecloths, blankets and lace doilies are transformed into aprons, coats, soft toys and placemats.  Denise makes most of the clothing and Dawn uses the left over material to make hair accessories and brooches.  The monsters are her favourite to make and she can get eight of these from one dressing gown, each with its own personality. Denise also does requests, repurposing treasured family fabrics and tired clothing into whatever your heart desires. 

One of our local waste champions, Oddbits is happy to receive material and bric-a-brac that you no longer want but would like to find a home for.  Denise confesses to not being able to say no to anything, and will endeavour to find other outlets for things she can’t use herself.   “I’m just the middleman”, she says.  At present, she’s working on finding a cost-effective way to ship unwanted clothing and fabric to Rarotonga, where her sister can distribute it to those in need. 

Denise and Dawn are also part of our local Friends of the Farm group and have made a significant contribution to our community as the faithful collection point for soft plastics.  Don’t forget to bring your clean stretchy plastic bags and gladwrap to their market stall on Sundays.

Walking around the Oddbits home-base, it’s obvious that reducing waste is at the heart of everything they do.  From the upcycled pallet chicken coop in the garden, to the vintage couches, gleaned from the inorganic collection, in the lounge.  “I love the challenge of finding things and putting them to another use”, Denise says.  “There’s a finite amount of space and product.  We can’t keep producing the amount that we are and expect it to disappear at the other end of its life.  Everything should be in a cycle.  If you don’t need something you should pass it on to someone else who does”.

Oddbits is part of a growing community of upcycling businesses in Auckland.  Known as “Upcycle Auckland”, the collective is hosting a series of three market days at Silo Park over the summer.  Denise hopes to inspire others by what they’re doing and encourage them to join the movement.  “There’s room for everybody”, she says.

Denise is very happy with the way things have unfolded with Oddbits over the past year.  Returning to work may change things a little, but the pair has lots of ideas for future projects, including getting young people more involved in sewing.  With many adults now lacking even basic skills like sewing on buttons, they feel it’s crucial to pass these skills on to the next generation. 

Oddbits can be found at the Mangere Bridge Village Boutique Market every Sunday from 9.00-1.00 pm. If you’re wanting to reduce waste this Christmas, check out their beautiful range for gift ideas that are locally handcrafted, unpackaged and made entirely from recycled materials.