Layla Azahaf

Do you want to meet the princess of waste and magic ? Layla makes beautiful jewelry, objects and decorations all based on recycled material. She learned everything on her own. She finds waste and turns it into magical products. A milk carton becomes an evening handbag, a box of tuna turns into a decorated cushion for needles, plastic forks become a hand fan and so on and so on.

As a little girl she started to collect what she found outside and built something else with it. In Morocco, where she was born, there was not much waste, since everyone recycles everything they use. It is part of the culture.

When she arrived in Belgium she was overwhelmed by the amount of waste . Slowly she learned to use it in a creative way and now she sees garbage differently. Garbage has potential. She gives courses to women that are in difficult situations and depression, something she experienced herself. Through learning how to give forgotten through-away objects a second life and a new value, they discover their creativity and  capacity. She says that there are so many creative people that we don't see , that are in the shadows.  Many women are not aware of their talent. we just have to softly  “blow” their creativity towards the outside, to help them to give it a second life.