Simone Labe calls her small business – making jewelry from used coffee capsules – “encapsulating.” “It's a play on the words 'enchanting' and 'captivating,'” explains the 49-year-old mother of three who made aliya from Zimbabwe in 1995. The necklaces, striking pieces made from the barely recognizable capsules that once provided a great cup of coffee, are talking points as well as eye-catching embellishments. “People stop and ask me where I got them,” says Labe. “When I explain what they are, reactions are always interesting and often very similar. First there's the jaw drop, when people realize what the material is. I love that part. This is almost always followed by a conversation about recycling, although I prefer to call it upcycling.” Very conscious of environmental issues, she feels her jewelry is “being kind to the world,” as she puts it, by saving it from being polluted, even in a minute way, by a used product. “I call it upcycling because I like to think I am taking the material to another level, creating something even more beautiful than before,” she says. It all began about two years ago when she was working in an office where the capsule coffee was available. “I was impressed with the amazing colors and I'd heard about people using them to make jewelry,” she says. “I began to experiment, making a few pieces for myself. When I wore one at a family bar mitzva, I got very positive reactions. People would come over and say 'Wow, where did you get that?'” Labe left Zimbabwe as an 18-year-old, going first to Arad and studying at the WUJS institute there. She met her South African-born kibbutznik husband, Darren, on a blind date; they married in 2000 and have three children. By day Labe works as a research assistant to a professor of dental medicine in Tel Aviv. She travels by train from her home in Hod Hasharon and works a full day. Only after work and when all the children's needs have been taken care of can she sit down with her raw materials and begin to create. The coffee capsules have to be emptied of their contents. She saves up the discarded grounds to give them to a friend, a keen gardener who uses them for fertilizer and shares her worldview of taking care of the planet. Once empty, she washes and dries them and puts them into different piles according to the colors. “Then when I want to start making a piece, I can easily find the colors I want to combine,” she says. The capsules are flattened into round shapes. “I think the circle shape attracts people. There is something perfect and complete about a circle.” Once she has selected the colors of the piece she is working on, she lets her creative imagination fly, adding beads and different kinds of trimmings, sometimes sewing glass beads around the outside of the flattened disc to increase its size and make it more interesting. The newly created works of art are completed with small metal loops and hung on fabric or woven ribbons. Selling her creations has been a story of trial and error until she found the sort of outlet that suited her. “I tried in malls, but I was more successful in places like Abu Ghosh during the music festivals there. You have a certain type of person who goes to these events – more artistic and appreciative of my work,” she says. The pieces are very light to wear and are finished at the back with soft material so they won't be scratchy. They are not expensive – starting at NIS 50 – and they are great ice breakers as well as being beautiful in their own right. Working full-time, making great jewelry, raising a family – as if this were not enough for most people, she also became involved in a fund-raising campaign about a year ago for a very worthy and moving cause. “We had a terrible tragedy back in Zimbabwe about a year ago. A man who had worked with our family for more than 30 years lost one of his daughters when she drowned in a freak baptizing incident. “She had just given birth to a lovely little girl, Nicolette, and she had been breastfeeding her. The immediate problem was raising money to be able to buy baby formula, which is very expensive in Zimbabwe.” Labe started a crowd-funding campaign and managed to raise $900 for the baby's needs. Anyone donating more than a certain amount was rewarded with – what else – an “encapsulating” necklace. Says Labe, “My day job is very important to me and bringing up three children is no mean feat these days, but to make something from nothing has added color, fulfillment and creative energy to my life and brought a smile to my face. I need it, for my soul.”
