Green This Season - Digital Conscious Fashion Magazine Issue #3 | страница 35

I think we’re creating an environment where even if you don’t
have experience, you can learn. Our trainees get one-on-one
tuition from some of the best in the business. So for that reason,
I really try and hire as many as possible, and it’s my job to
create that environment where they can flourish. At furniture
trade shows, we don’t advertise the homeless angle, we watch
to see if people come over of their own accord and check out
the furniture. Then I quietly explain how it was made and who
made it, and jaws often drop. That’s a good feeling! Given the
right opportunities anyone can make beautiful furniture.

Has one of the Apprentices you work
with, ever surprised you with some
fabulous creative input?
Every day. Painting the pallet-wood rocking chair the way we
did was an idea from one of the trainees. And there’s a big
focus on trainee’s problem-solving on their own, to help build
their independence. I’m not surprised, they’re people who’ve
lived and worked in the past, there’s not much reason for them
not to have their own ideas just because they spent some time
living on the streets. If anything, those experiences make them
unique and that’s a creativity we can tap into.

What is the one statement
you would want to make about
recycling furniture?
Connecting the dots between the amount of
furniture being thrown out by households,
the amount of timber being thrown out by
the construction industry and our seemingly
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