“An old oak pallet used to be a tree, might have stood in a forest somewhere for 50 years.
It did its job, carried tons of goods all over the world, and now it’s going to the trash heap…?!”
Matt Loftice of RecycledBrooklyn found green crafting inspiration in New Orleans, Louisiana. Shortly after Hurricane Katrina, he saw an article about a man recovering all of the wreckage to rebuild his home after it was destroyed.
“Doors, windows, lumber…he was he was grabbing stuff that looked like garbage and making piles near his property, determined to start over using little more than his hands and hard work,” said Matt. Seeing this made him look at old and discarded materials in a new light. “To me, an old door was just an old door – the kind of thing you’d see, step over and just keep going. Stopping to look at it, however, it occurred to me that an old door can be pretty much whatever you want it to be – a desk, a dressing vanity, a coffee table…”
His home in Brooklyn is an endless source for inspiration and materials. “Ideas come and go, a short walk with my dog might become an entire afternoon and then it just kinda happens – a few pieces of discarded plumbing pipe catch my eye. I imagine a standing coat rack and the next thing you know, my dog and I are dragging stuff home.” Besides larger pieces, like doors, he even salvages his hardware and paints.
Check out their online store: recycledbrooklyn.com
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