Day 1 Keynote: Kresse Wesling CBE
Thinking outside of the box is a great maverick quality and one that Kresse Wesling clearly has in abundance. She is also driven to action, exemplified by her favourite quote from Carl Yung: “You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.” We couldn’t agree more.
Some might be hard-pressed to see how old firefighting hose could be beautiful, but this is exactly what makes Kresse’s passion extraordinary: her vision. ‘When you polish it and see the lustrous red rubber it becomes this fantastic material!’ Kresse and her business partner, Elvis, set about figuring out what they could make from it. ‘If a use couldn’t be found for the hose, most of it would go to landfill, which to me is simply uncivilised. Waste is a mix of inherently valuable materials. It’s shameful to shove it in the earth’.
Kresse Wesling, CBE, is a multi-award winning environmental entrepreneur. After first meeting the London Fire Brigade in 2005, Kresse launched Elvis & Kresse, which rescues and transforms decommissioned fire hose into innovative lifestyle products and returns 50% of profits to the Fire Fighters Charity. The company now collects 12 different waste streams and has several charitable partnerships and collaborations across industries.
