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When Eric Heins decide to help Japan after the tragic earthquake just
five weeks ago the results exceeded his expectations
to say the least
While he still considers himself an average twenty four year old trying to make
a small difference, others are calling him a hero.
This is the sound that's echoed through Eric Heins Brighton
apartment for the past month as he makes leather bracelets by
hand one by one to sell for relief efforts in Japan
"I wanted to make a really simple product that was also detailed
enough, so I just decided
put up a bracelet and um twenty minutes I made one put it up
online and the sales just kinda started coming in"
He made a thousand dollars the first five hours but these bracelets aren't exactly a new trade for Heins
Inspired by Japanese culture, he started his own leather business in his junior year at Suffolk University New England School of Art and Design.
"He just had an intuition with design
and came out
with beautiful pieces, conceptually rich and everything so
as a sophomore and a junior I thought he was an exceptional
designer" But Heins says being a craftsman wasn't always
his dream. "I originally got into school for business at Suffolk
then I took an art class my last semester at high school and
I really loved it but I've always kinda wanted to
combine business and....being creative.
And he succeeded in doing that, making almost two thousand bracelets
and donating a total of thirty two thousand dollars
to the Red Cross. "His little part is contributing to peoples
across the world....that's fantastic.
That's what I hope inspires others to do" "American people
are like the people who don't really belong to Japan and the working for my
country so I think it's fabulous"
But Heins still remains humble through the hype
"A couple of people have called me a hero, I don't want to offend anyone that's you
you know complimented me, but I definitely think everybody that's bought a bracelet deserves just
as much praise" Heins stopped selling these bracelets on April tenth as it
was a month long project, he says the money donated to the Red
Cross in
those twenty seven days equals about eighty two cents donated per minute. He does
tell me he would consider
selling the bracelets again but would want to tweak the design first. Live in Studio 73
Katie Sampson, Suffolk U News