Blog
East Austin Studio Tour
One of the many highlights of the 2011 East Austin Studio Tour (E.A.S.T.) for me was getting a morning coffee at Café Mundi and hearing a woman behind me describing a reuse center. She had lived in the bay area and was doing her fair share of spreading the word about reuse centers.
We snagged a spot next to Iona Handcrafted Books on Tillery. We brought out materials left over from the IIDA (International Interior Design Association) Zero LandFill event, from the SXSW Eco Conference and from donation drives at Whole Foods Market and Rebecca’s home. In the mix were vinyl banners, metal tins, carpet squares, tiles, fabrics, trinkets, cardboard, and on and on. We were delighted to disperse the materials out to the public for free. (Once the center is open we will charge bulk rates by the bag for materials.)
To help bridge the communication idea of what a reuse center is, we brought a sign with reuse project ideas. Represented were some of the more common materials we all run across with a need to repurpose and we had so many excited conversations with folks around that sign.
Mary Cantu, founder of Spare Parts, the reuse project in San Antonio, came up to pitch in and say hello as well. She taught us how to make jump ropes from old markers, make paint out of dry makers, and t-shirt yarn! Thanks Mary!!
Our time at E.A.S.T. was all the more fun with the volunteers who came out to help in sorting materials, explaining what we were up to, and stamping business cards! The event was a much needed break from having our heads in behind-the-scenes paperwork. We’re looking forward to getting to know our new reuse friends better!
Thank you everyone who stopped by, intentionally planning, or letting yourself be swept up in the moment. We greatly appreciated the enthusiasm and interest in support that we found.
Our First Materials Collection Day
On October 29, 2011, we ran our first public materials collection drive. We sent out requests for materials like fabric, egg cartons and tins. The photo is of the first items that were dropped off that day. We had about ten people drop off items and an estimated 300 lbs of materials were collected. Thank you to all of our donors!
Austin Creative Reuse… our first meetup!
We held our first volunteer meeting on Thursday, November 8th, 2009
We meet at AAMP and Kami Wilt brought lots of amazing materials which we used to create mazes.
Kami wrote up a great blog post about the event on her Mungo blog.
Photo of our founding group: Lisa, Harley, Rebecca, Ellen and Kami.
Creation of our logo
In 2009, we started working on our logo. Christy Carroll was our designer extraordinaire. Due to her concern for the environment and the belief in our mission, she volunteered to contribute her time to us to create our logo. She provided us with lots of great ideas. The final concept we selected was based on the fact that there are many beautiful neon signs that contribute to Austin’s unique culture and the arrow concept for recycling. We are very grateful for the work that Christy did and the beautiful design that established the foundation for the look of Austin Creative Reuse.