Kay from Singapore first discovered Olio through word of mouth from someone in one of the zero waste groups she’s part of online.
For her it was the perfect app. Kay runs The Tinkerbox, a small business where she handcrafts fabric alternatives to single-use items: reusable snack bags, cloth pads, cling film replacements. Avoiding waste isn’t just her work; she incorporates it into her everyday life too.
One day, as she was giving something away, Kay also browsed the latest free listings and she spotted something she was interested in.
“It was a knife and in Asian culture, not many people want to exchange sharp items as it’s considered bad luck. I’m not superstitious like that and I prioritise not wanting something to go to waste over superstition.”
When Kay arrived to collect it, the woman giving away the knife mentioned she’d been worried nobody would want it.
“In Singapore, people are usually quite reserved when interacting with others outside of their friend group but I make it a point to be friendly to people, even if I don’t know them. When the person I was collecting a knife from remarked that she had concerns that people wouldn’t want to take a knife, I mentioned my personal beliefs and my values – being mindful and trying to not waste unnecessarily. She saw this as being natural and intentional and mentioned that she had a friend who crafted chemical free skincare and make up, and shared Judith’s Instagram handle. I messaged Judith on Instagram and found out her studio, then, was really near me, and made a trip over to say hi.”
Judith runs Zeromultiple, a one-woman skincare business focused on ingredients that are kinder to the body. Kay was immediately interested. Through building The Tinkerbox, she’d already started learning more about endocrine disruptors and the effects certain chemicals can have on human health.
The two women clicked quickly.
Mostly online, and sometimes in person, they started supporting each other in the ways small business owners do. Kay later connected Judith with a pop-up market she thought would suit her products perfectly. Judith became one of Kay’s customers too, buying cloth pads from The Tinkerbox.
And when Kay went through two particularly bad eczema flare-ups, Judith showed up with samples, advice and encouragement.
“She was so kind to help me through it.”
Today, they remain friends. Sometimes they collaborate on social media posts. One day, they’d love to create something together – pairing Judith’s cleansers with Kay’s reusable face wipes.
But for now, they’re two busy women running one-woman businesses, doing what they can and cheering each other on – all because Kay decided a knife on Olio was worth collecting, and took a moment to chat with the stranger at the door.
What does Olio mean to you?
“Olio is a really good platform to share and to receive things that other people might not need anymore. I like that it’s strongly location-linked, because it often doesn’t make sense to travel a long distance for something.”