Gritful

Grit­ful, ins­pi­red by the Sout­hern expre­ssi­on ​“full of grit,” embo­di­es resi­li­en­ce and deter­mi­na­ti­on. Born during the pan­de­mic, the brand emer­ged as Janet, an Asi­an Ame­ri­can expat in Bel­gi­um, soug­ht pur­po­se amidst uncertainty.

Janet stum­bled onto the wor­ld of resin and con­cre­te whi­le looking for somet­hing to do whi­le adjus­ting to her new set­tin­gs. With her pro­fe­ssi­onal bac­k­gro­und in mar­ke­ting and e‑commerce, cre­ating the brand just natu­ral­ly snowballed. 

Everyt­hing is made by hand by Janet her­self in her home stu­dio in Brussels. 

Grit is a word to des­cri­be small loose par­ti­cles of sto­ne, sand and dirt. The resin mate­ri­al that Janet uses starts off in powder form, once mixed and cured it com­ple­tely tran­sfor­ms into the beauti­ful decor objects. 

Janet uses a water-based resin, ensu­ring each cre­ati­on is safe and sus­ta­ina­ble. Each item is san­ded and seal-fini­shed by hand with a food-gra­de natu­ral wax, pro­tec­ting aga­inst water, debris and UV rays. Not food gra­de safe to con­su­me food or liqu­ids directly.

It is uncle­ar if the pro­duc­ts are cir­cu­lar. If the sus­ta­ina­ble resin sub­s­ti­tu­te can be inte­gra­ted back into the pro­duc­ti­on cycle or natu­ral­ly bre­ak down wit­ho­ut har­ming the envi­ron­ment, it could be deemed circular.

Whet­her a sus­ta­ina­ble resin sub­s­ti­tu­te is con­si­de­red cir­cu­lar depen­ds on vari­ous fac­tors inclu­ding its pro­duc­ti­on pro­cess, raw mate­ri­als, and end-of-life recy­cla­bi­lity or biode­gra­da­bi­lity. Cir­cu­lar mate­ri­als are tho­se that can be reused, recy­cled, or safely com­pos­ted, mini­mi­zing was­te and redu­cing the need for new resources. 

Grit­ful ope­ra­tes a short sup­ply cha­in, being a com­mu­nity-based business.

Local arti­san Janet cre­ates in her own ate­li­er, dis­tri­bu­ting her cre­ati­ons to near­by spe­ci­ality shops pri­ma­rily thro­ugh word-of-mouth promotion. 

The brand does not seem to use any ani­mal mate­ri­als, making them vegan in the­ory.

Grit­ful offers time­less fun­c­ti­onal art. Each piece is unique! The col­lec­ti­on inclu­des colo­ur­ful trays, cand­le­hol­ders, soap hol­ders, plant hol­ders and more. The objec­ts are vibran­tly colo­ured, abs­trac­tly desig­ned, featu­ring playful sha­pes and ter­ra­zzo-like patterns.

Janet makes each item by hand from dura­ble mate­ri­als.

Grit­ful may not sha­re whe­re its resin comes from, but its pro­duc­ti­on pro­cess is an open book. Led by Janet, a local arti­san in Bel­gi­um, everyt­hing is made by hand in her ate­li­er, with items reac­hing cus­to­mers thro­ugh local shops and word-of-mouth.