Friday 11 May 2012

Mother and Child project: The ultimate Mother's Day gift

It’s Mother’s Day this weekend and as much as it is the day to show our moms how much we love them, it should also be a day to think about those mothers who are less privileged than we are.

So instead of running and getting your mom that LV bag that you’ve been coveting (just so you can borrow it!), why not look for something simple and more meaningful this year?

If you need any ideas, then I’ve done the work for you and discovered this little store which I think many of us should support especially for this occasion.


The place is called Mother & Child, and is run by the organization of the same name whose mission is helping disadvantaged mothers earn some income. Most of the products from clothes to accessories and home decoration pieces are made by these mothers by upcycling donated fabric and items, lowering production cost and enabling a big amount of the sale proceeds to go to them.

These disadvantaged women include single mothers, retirees, mothers whose child has autism or any other form of disability or simply those who come from very low income families.


Necklaces made from ring pulls. How cool are these?


Other than supporting the cause, one reason to check out this place is the originality of some of the items on sale. For example my favourite is a raw silk jacket which can be worn in 6 different ways. The quality of the fabric and stitching is great in this piece and apparently it is designed by their in-house designer who comes up with the idea which the mothers then execute.

Other cool items include some jewellery made from rolling newspaper plastic pieces, necklaces from can ring pulls, some cute Perankan woman-inspired card holders, door stops and key-chains. There is in fact a large array of interesting items on sale and going for very good price as well.

This jacket can be worn inside out and upside down to create different effects.


Necklaces made out of rolled paper or plastic pieces.


Cool coaster made using the same technique as the necklaces above.

Mother & Child currently occupies a small pop up space in Millenia Walk (#01-50), but only until the end of May. After that they go back to operating from their permanent Simei centre and they also sell their products through other stockists like Doinky Doodles on 33 Bali Lane and Piece of Mine at 16 Mohamed Sultan road. But if you can’t make it to any of these places, they also have an online shop.

My advice to you would be to head down there and find something that will not only make your mother happy, but a whole bunch of other mothers too.



Who knew you could use empty plastic bottles to decorate your home?

And here an old banner is used to create this cool and colourful box




If you'd like to know more about Mother & Child project, go to their website here or check out their facebook page.