AS PRINTED IN MOTIF MAGAZINE 04/01/09

(reprinted with permission and thanks to the editor, Jim Vickers)

C M Y K

[I'll Buy That]

coffee bean sacks sprout new life as stylish spring jackets, hats

Jess Powers

40

Motif • april 1 • april 14 • 2009 www.MotifMagazine.net arts • entertainment • news • humor • opinion

Elizabeth Lech Cintolo is the kind of person you hope to meet. If you are lucky, she is the one who patiently stands behind the counter at Coffee Exchange to serve you the cup of Joe that will slap you awake in the morning.

Once fully awake, you may notice the interesting design on the back of her jacket... two red and yellow parrots. Look a bit closer and you will realize this jacket is made from recycled burlap coffee sacks. If you ask, she will tell you she made it.

Nearly every coffee producer in the world ships green coffee beans in food-grade burlap sacks.

Usually these bags are considered worthless and are tossed into the dumpster.

When Elizabeth began working at Coffee Exchange two years ago, she realized there was an opportunity to breathe new life into the burlap sacks. The management at Coffee Exchange has been a generous supporter of her endeavor and the result is that Elizabeth has turned resourcefulness into a wearable art.

“I find a lot of the beauty in using what would otherwise be discarded. Simply in that there is value. Americans have become very wasteful, so to use something and give it a new life is rewarding.”

Skilled in many creative and manual trades, from carpentry to painting, to farming and folk guitar playing, sewing and garment design, Elizabeth is the type of person that can learn how to do or make anything with her hands.

“I have worked as a contractor for 15 years, and still do interior painting. I’ve built a lot of decks, tore out scores of kitchens, and have spread enough paint on walls to fill a swimming pool.”

Above all, she is passionate about sewing, a skill that was passed down from her mother.

Over the years, she has worked with a diverse gamut of textiles ranging from marine canvas and upholstery materials to silk, linen, fleece and now burlap.

Initially, she used the recycled coffee bags to make backpacks but her preference for apparel brought her to the conclusion that the material would best be suited for jackets, hats, and vests which she lines with organic, tea-dyed muslin.

Because the bags are sourced from fair-trade co-ops, the burlap coffee sacks have trendy catch phrases printed on them such as “organic” and “sustainable,” and the most prevalent: “fair-trade coffee.”

Most bags have the co-op or grower name printed on the bag along with graphics such as animals, trees, or other colorful designs. I particularly liked one that had a large, blue elephant on it. I can envision the finished jacket with the prominent pachyderm at the back and the curiosity that would ensue from onlookers, a true conversation starter.

These environmentally friendly jackets are gaining notoriety on the backs of a few well-known people.

Elizabeth makes clothing for Cincinnati woodcut artist and musician Jay Bolotin, who combined his talents of art and music into the award-winning woodcut motion picture “The Jackleg Testament - Part One; Jack and Eve.” She became acquainted with Jay when he played with local bluesman Ken Lyon at a RI Food Bank benefit three years ago.

Quite picky about his clothing, he prefers her linen shirts to any others and is waiting for just the right design to present itself for one of her unique jackets.

Another well-known fan of Elizabeth’s is Michael Hough of the nationally-known folk duo, Mustard’s Retreat. Elizabeth was listening to an interview the band did on WGBH up in Massachusetts. She heard Michael’s name, and wondered if they were related since she has family in Michigan with the same last name, Hough.

Though a direct connection was never found, Michael refers to Elizabeth as his cousin. “We have no facts to base this on, but I don’t care. Cousins it is.”

Michael and Elizabeth finally met a year later at a Mustard’s Retreat show in New Bedford where she noticed he was wearing a worn out pair of insulated pants, a staple to this hunter, hiker, skiers wardrobe. She made a new pair that Michael still raves about. “I raved so much that she said, “All right, all right, I’ll make you a jacket.”

He goes on to say, “When I put on my Free Trade Jacket, as I have named it, I always get comments, especially if I wear it to my local coffee shop. I can almost hear a whirring sound, which would be people’s mental gears engaging. Sometimes people ask me about where to get a jacket like mine, sometimes they just stare enviously.”

Elizabeth has found a special niche in our disposable-obsessed culture.

Where can you buy one of Elizabeth’s creations? It’s not as easy as brewing a cup of coffee but it is just anemail away:

Burlap_Jackets@cox.net

By the way, Mustard’s Retreat returns to Rhode Island on April 25 with an 8 p.m. show at Stone Soup Coffeehouse.

Call 401-457-7147 for reservations.

[i’ll buy that]

Coffee bean sacks

sprout new life as stylish

spring jackets, hats

Jess

Powers