Handmade Uniqueness

See this?

This is unique. This is beauty.

This photo perfectly illustrates why I love my Glass Dharma straws so very much. Each straw has its own personality. At first glance, they appear to look exactly the same. But take a closer look. Each one has its own teeny tiny, beautiful curves and rounded edges. I found myself zoning out one day, totally entranced by this. Strange? Maybe. But come on. Don’t you agree? They’re like little works of art, each one of ’em.

Glass Dharma has been running an Earth Day event in some form or another for the past few years. This year, they’ve created a Planet Care pledge and so far, it’s been wildly successful. They are now well over their 1,000 straw pledge and the numbers keep going up. Seeing that momentum growing is totally inspiring and has helped fuel this post. Not only is their product just…awesome, but they have a message behind it and that message is catching on: Use less plastic. Take the Planet Care Pledge. Choose glass.

At some point in our history as a society and species, we got into this funk where everything had to be brand-new, clean…in other words, perfect. And, indeed, if you walk into any department store or super store (Wal*Mart, Target, Coscto, I’m lookin’ at you) everything is, at first glance, perfect. There are stacks and stacks of matching plates, piles of perfect pillows (have some alliteration while you read, please) and rows of matching glasses and stemware. What bothers me the most is glassware. I’m all about saving some $$ on household goods (this fact made ever more obvious after a recent major move) but perfect cheap glassware is a bunch of bologna.

Which is why Glass Dharma straws are amazing. Yes, each and every straw goes through a rigorous quality control process to ensure that each customer receives a superior product. And superior products we receive, in spades. My point is that with a product like these straws and with a company like Glass Dharma, it’s personal. A person physically handled and created the straws. They are truly handmade and great care went in to make them. That’s not something you’ll ever get from a set of Target glass tumblers, no matter how perfect they look.

That’s why, for this year’s World Water Day, for Earth Day and for Planet Care, I’ll be sipping my water, my smoothies, my juice…from my perfectly unique straws. Because seriously? Stacked up next to these beauties, plastic is totally boring. 😉