Laurie Melia of Bassendean with her Make For Good range of ceramic items.
Camera IconLaurie Melia of Bassendean with her Make For Good range of ceramic items. Credit: Supplied/David Baylis

Make for Good: Bassendean ceramicist shaping better futures for 360 Sri Lankan girls

Kristie LimEastern Reporter

A BASSENDEAN ceramicist is spreading her spoonfuls of positivity to create brighter futures for 360 girls in Sri Lanka.

Laurie Melia (34) operates her own home business, the Yellow Tree Store, and has joined online marketplace Etsy.com and Plan International Australia’s Because I Am A Girl campaign for the second time.

Participants create and sell Make For Good products on the website and 20 per cent of the sales would go towards an skill-based economic empowerment program for struggling women in Sri Lanka.

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Melia said her ceramic spoon product represented bright and positive vibes.

“The money goes towards its training programs to help girls learn the skills to start their own small businesses, which is a really good way of empowering women to have financial independence,” she said.

“The smiley spoon was one of my first ideas…I have got a range of different things but the idea itself came pretty quickly.”

The three-year ceramicist said starting up small businesses like her own were not expensive and was something women overseas could achieve.

“Women that are doing these amazing crafts that have been passed down by generations, they should be making money from them, they should be making a living and income,” she said

“What I do, I find really rewarding. I think anyone could do that and be able to have that opportunity.”

She said she did not hope to expand beyond her home business but had other ambitions.

“It would be awesome if I could just focus on making 24 hours a day but I am really happy with where it is at the moment,” she said.

“One thing that I would like to do in the future maybe is an exhibition; that is something that I have not done before.”

The campaign will run until the end of December.