Freyja Tasci is the maker behind Apiwraps, Australia’s original beeswax wraps. She’s spent the last nine years perfecting, educating and distributing beeswax wraps around the country in an effort to eliminate plastic cling wrap from every home in Australia.
Freyja, her husband and two children have moved to Adelaide from NSW for the lifestyle and opportunities that the Festival State have to offer.
Especially with Adelaide’s most recent crowning as the third most liveable city in the world, the enviable quality of life and more affordable cost of living inspired the family to make the move from country NSW to Adelaide city.
“We’ve been expats for most of our lives and lived in big cities around the world, including Dubai, Istanbul and Geneva. Adelaide has a sophisticated charm that other cities in Australia are missing, either because the city is larger or the pace is too fast to enjoy life.”
Whilst larger production runs of Apiwraps continue in NSW due to the specific machinery that has been developed and build over the last ten years, all of the distribution and work of the business now happens here in Adelaide. With a goal of eliminating cling wrap from every home in Australia Freyja is well on her way, even though there is still a long way to go!
“It all started with an idea I read about in my literature degree, and $200 of my housekeeping money,” says the mum of two. “I was at home with a toddler and a newborn and the idea just wouldn’t let me be.”
“Looking for ways to keep fresh food for longer without using plastic was the biggest problem in my home. I was buying expensive organic veggies because my daughter had an anaphylactic allergy and we were trying to eat as clean as possible. It was devastating to see a $10 celery wilt and droop after a day or two!”
“Beeswax is a great way to keep veggies fresh because it seals in the moisture but it still breathes, so the veggies won’t sweat and spoil. It’s also great for cheese and leftovers as well as lunchboxes. It completely eliminated any need for cling wrap and it can be used daily for a year or more.”
Apiwraps has been making beeswax wrap, a modernised version on oilskin, for nine years. Starting out on Freyja’s kitchen table and selling to markets in Byron Bay, she’s had trouble keeping up with demand, and has created several machines to wax and cut the cotton pieces ready to use.
In 2019 as Apiwraps began to see the results of years of R&D, the Australian market was flooded with imported look-alike products. Freyja didn’t give up though.
“It was a really hard time for us, we had a team and warehouse to keep up, and heaps of stock because of our experimenting with the machines, and suddenly we weren’t making any sales. I knew that there were heaps of people who had never heard of beeswax wraps and were still using cling wrap in their kitchens. We had production capacity and heaps of stock, I just had to get it into the right places.”
The turning point for Freyja came when ALDI approached Apiwraps for a collaboration, selling the products in their stores across the country.
“Working with ALDI has absolutely made our business. We were packing our first delivery for their special buys when the first lockdowns started in early 2020. We had recently lost our two permanent team members and no one knew what would happen next, so in the end my husband and I packed the whole order ourselves.”
Making Apiwraps at scale is has meant that Freyja’s dreams for what the product can be are actually turning into reality.
“The ALDI Special Buys coming up features the artwork of our favourite Sydney illustrator Andrea Smith, she’s created the most beautiful Australian Animal designs for us. This is what I dreamed our product would look like way back when I started out, it’s sure been an adventure getting here!”
As a small business, Apiwraps has benefited from the support of ALDI in Australia. “I really appreciate that ALDI gave me a chance. We are only a very small manufacturer and it’s been an amazing opportunity working with this scale.“
For those interested in purchasing an Apiwrap at a bargain, the innovative environmentally-friendly item will be featured in ALDI’s nation-wide Sustainable Living Special Buys from Saturday 26 June 2021.
You can purchase Apiwraps from their website here.
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