In Indonesian, ‘Kayu’ means wood.

We take high-quality reclaimed wood and partner with Indonesian artisans in remote communities to craft beautiful tableware and household brushes that are 100% compostable.

Respecting Fair Trade principles, our artisans receive a living wage and are able to provide for their families, which is important especially as Bali relied primarily on tourism pre-pandemic.

This project is to help us expand Kayu&Co.’s product line and operations which in hand, expands our impact.

There are over 15 million tonnes of wood and coconut fibre wastage every year that ends up as landfill or is sent to the powerhouse to generate energy. Both activities release carbon emissions into the air. By upcycling wood wastage, Kayu&Co. serves to reduce this damage.

By repurposing reclaimed wood, the demand for new wood and therefore deforestation and logging is also reduced.

And of course, we are driven by the goal to empower our partnering Indonesian artisans to lift themselves out of poverty, while also helping safeguard the country’s cultural heritage. Our products are inspired by Scandinavian design and are designed to match what is actually desired in the Australian market; this prioritises quality, allowing us to buy in advance everything the artisans have created and providing them a stable income.

I’m Ira Puspita and I’m a young Indonesian migrant living in Sydney. I founded Kayu&Co. after finishing my Master of Social Entrepreneurship degree from Macquarie University. With my business management background and experience living in remote Indonesia, I began to think about what I could do to reduce the income gap between urban and rural areas in my home country.

When I was in rural Indonesia, I found numerous issues that prevented artisans from expanding their handicraft businesses. They generally lacked education, capital, exposure to new technologies and market intelligence. Some forms of art had also gradually faded because of industrialisation. As a result, many artisans in remote communities resorted to construction and factory work, becoming more susceptible to exploitation.

A short story from our artisan community in Purwasari Village: this is Mamang who makes our best-selling wood dustpan. He employs all local villagers who have lost their jobs due to Covid-19. Most of his employees used to work as casual construction labourers in Jakarta, where they lived in overcrowded slums to provide food for their families back in the village.

1. We want to expand our business by increasing our distribution to like-minded retailers who care about sustainability and community.
2. We also want to expand our product line by including a limited-edition range, designed with Lift Women and Global Sisters, that will be made-to-order.

The funding we receive will go towards increasing our team to fulfil the above two projects. It will enable us to bring on more Indonesian artisans, to reach out to potential retailers and stockists and to move towards hiring a full-time marketing strategist to help scale Kayu&Co. from a micro business into a small business.

Call To Action

As a thank you for donating to Kayu&Co. we have created a menu of rewards for you.