Reuse centers do this!
Even better, get an established program going with your local art schools and colleges.
It is of the utmost importance that these connections and partnerships are made between the materials and the users. Those that happen and are supported at the store level will be the most successful! Congratulations to ReSource for going in this direction.
Local Denver artist Katy Gevaris has a new place to exhibit her work. Gevaris, who, like many other local artists, uses reclaimed materials, can now show her work at Boulder’s ReSource Yard, on a consignment “stage.” She says working through ReSource makes it easier — and greener — to sell her work.
“I tried to open up an Etsy account and sell through that, but my pieces are big, and shipping makes it cost-prohibitive,” says Gevaris, who often uses reclaimed tiles to make mosaic table tops. “And I would rather sell it locally, anyway. That way you aren’t using fossil fuels to ship it …”
The consignment program is a change for ReSource, which since 2010 has employed a woodworker to make furniture and other items from reclaimed materials.
Steve Cavanaugh, program manager of the Center for ReSource Conservation in BoulDer, says the shift is part of a transition from making items to teaching others how to use the reclaimed materials from ReSource for their own projects.
“We’re gearing more toward the educational standpoint in helping people do it on their own,” he says. “It’s one thing for us to build furniture out of reclaimed materials, but another to teach people to do it themselves.”