Vobrousek and the Love for Bees...

© vobrousek.cz

While being a part of the project 'Roadmap of Social Enterprises' (with financial support of Visegrad Fund) that aims to create a digital map of social enterprises in 8 countries, namely Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Serbia, Macedonia, Albania and Montenegro, I currently have this great possibility to look for and meet some inspiring examples of social entrepreneurs in Czech Republic. And one of them is Natálie Pivrncová, a young entrepreneur and the producer of environmentally and bees-friendly beeswax wraps 'Vobrousek' - a reusable and long-lasting alternative to plastic and/or aluminium food packaging. I had the chance to hear the inspiring story of Natálie during the Erasmus+ international training course 'Sustainable ImPACT' organised by the NGO Youth Progress Czech Republic gathering young and active people from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Armenia, Portugal and Czech Republic. Moreover, as a group we had this amazing opportunity to participate in a practical workshop and make beeswax wraps ourselves...

New Zealand, continuous learning and the ever-growing love for bees...

The idea of producing 'Vobrousek' (vosk + ubrousek, in Czech meaning wax and napkin) beeswax food packaging wraps came to Natálie after her travels to New Zealand, where she had a chance to visit an eco beekeeping farm that produces manuka honey (a flower that grows exclusively in NZ and South-East Australia) and honey products. That's where she saw the beeswax wraps for the first time. When she returned home her fascination with bees kept growing and the experience she gained inspired her to try and create such a food preserving product herself. For several months Natálie worked on a prototype, meanwhile learning a lot of interesting new things about wax and other natural substances that lead to the final product offered on the market today. Yet, the curiousity and determination for finding even better solutions has never stopped as she keeps trying out new ideas, cooperates with different actors (e.g. university, businesses) and keeps coming up with new products, services and goals to achieve.

A product with a personal touch and a commitment to quality

I think we just instantly became the biggest fans of Vobrousek

The beeswax wraps are relatively easy to make and there are many advantages to these health-safe and reusable alternatives to plastic and aluminium food packaging. Beeswax is a natural anti-bacterial preservative, yet jojoba oil that is used in the mix with beeswax serves as an agent against molding. Cotton in combination with beeswax allows optimal air absorption (so the product stays fresh longer and does not dry out), whereas pinetree resin in combination with jojoba oil makes the wrap stick better together in a way that a plastic or aluminium foil would. 'Vobrousek' offers packaging wraps of different sizes (also available in family sets), bread bags, and more recently beeswax candles. It also sells sets for making beeswax wraps at home. The great thing about these sets is that people tend to send Natálie photos of their artistic creations, which is such a cool way to get a feedback on your product. To produce the best quality product that is safe for human consumption (i.e. preserving food), she pays great attention to the quality and content of raw materials (i.e. beeswax, cotton, paints etc.) and cooperates with local producers for getting her product supplies. The iconic flowery motives that 'Vobrousek' can be recognized by are not random and portray the flowers that bees like especially. Also, with every purchase you'll receive a small paper bag with seeds of honey flowers, so that you can individually make your little contribution to bees by planting them. That's just a tiny detail, but so thoughtful and cute. 

Also, good to know - the wraps are not suitable for preserving raw meat or eggs, as Natálie told us.

'Vobrousek' has been running for 3 years now and at this moment Natálie has five part-time employees and always has more friends that are ready to help out, when a larger order has to be produced. Currently, she also employs a Ukrainian girl that escaped the horrors of war in her homeland. Although the product is on the market - online, in different hip spaces and showrooms and with Natálie herself selling them on different open-air markets around the country, her love for bees has lead her to her next challenge - she has signed up for a study program to become a professional beekeeper herself.

Creativity Unleashed: The joys of making beeswax wraps ourselves...

Participants of 'Sustainable ImPACT' TC © Jeff Koch

The coolest thing ever is when you get to not only see the environmentally-friendly product, but also make one yourself (which is actually an excellent team bonding activity)! We were lucky to have such an opportunity! To make beeswax wraps we were provided with cotton cloths of different sizes, food-friendly paints (milk-based), and freedom to mix our own colour palettes and put whatever we wanted on our personalized cotton 'canvases'. When the drawings were complete Natálie patiently and enthusiastically assisted all of us (approximately 25 very excited young and moderately young people, including me) at explaining and showing the best ways to put wax on the cloth, and how to melt it with iron that the result is smooth and ready to use, meanwhile the room slowly obtained a sweet smell of honey. The process was pretty easy and the joy of making these wraps for each group member was indescribable! Some of the participants even continued to make them during their lunch break and even after it had ended... only finishing up after being called to take part in the next session of the training course...

If you'd like to learn more about 'Vobrousek' or even purchase some of those beeswax products check out their website: www.vobrousek.cz, or find them on Instagram!