JOYFUL CREATIONS
I Love Canada bracelets started by famed Canadian costume designer
Spread the joy this Canada Day with delicately custom-designed I Love Canada bracelets, specially made for the nation’s momentous birthday.
The creations are part of a livelihood initiative started by famed Canadian costume designer Joy Samanski to give less-fortunate families in the Philippines entrepreneurial opportunities.
Samanski, owner of Joy Theatricals in Toronto, and considered by many to be one of the most notable costume designers in the nation, opened the House of Joy in Pona Village Gawad Kilinga in the Bicol region and, by generously sharing her sewing and design skills, there are now 10 families employed making bracelets, knitted wallets, straw wallets, quilts and coconut banks — more than 30 products.
“This provides food, rice, bus fare and school supplies ... some have even bought a pig and a chicken with their earnings,” says Samanski, whose impressive clients have included Sir Richard Branson, Tom Jones, the late Jim Henson, Dorothy Hamill and many others in the TV/film/advertising world.
The bracelets each have more than 400 Czech beads — Samanski sends the beads and cording and then the finished bracelets are shipped back to her. “It takes four hours to make one bracelet.”
Her labour of love is 100 per cent non-profit — House of Joy products are now online (as well as in seven stores in Toronto) and are continually creating more jobs for the villagers.
“We are working on new designs every day,” says Samanski, who started the project with the $28,000 that was left to her by her father when he passed away in 2011. Additionally, she has raised $4,000 for the workshop and to replace the roof.
“They have many obstacles there — lack of education, typhoons, poverty. I am happy to help in any way.”
For more information on how to help or to order a bracelet, reach out to joy@joytheatricals.com.