Reusable Bags News

I’d like to welcome Cliff and Leigh whom are custom crafted woodmakers based in Los Angeles. They are “militant” about using reusable bags and we appreciate that on our Earth’s behalf. Here’s some more from Leigh about their unique craftsmanship.

Our Los Angeles woodshop services include commissioned furniture, custom modern and traditional cabinetry, wood finishing and refinishing. We are experts in sourcing reclaimed and sustainable materials.

We work with general contractors, architects, interior designers and individuals. We primarily work in Los Angeles, but we have sucessfully shipped furniture and custom cabinets across both California and the United States.

Our signature wood is “wine oak”. What is that, you ask. There’s a listing called CALMAX where people all over California offer used building materials. Sometimes they ask for money. Usually their objective is just to avoid paying for things to be hauled away. If you ever need dirt… there’s always dirt. Clawfoot tubs show up from time to time as well.

Cliff gravitated to a Napa winery’s offering of used oak—soaked with wine. He didn’t know what he wanted to do with it, but he wanted it. As you surely know, oak is used during the fermentation process to impart flavor to wine. This is mass production, the “inner stave” process, where oak is put into stainless steel vats, rather than being aged in the traditional
barrels. The 1/2 thick staves are stained through and through by the grapes. The Pinot Noir makes for the darkest stain while the Pinot Grigio leaves the lightest. The pictures show the deep walnut or honey tones. There is no “stain” used here, just wine.

It arrives coated with sugars and wine solids. Yes, the shop smells like a winery during the processing, but it goes away by the time it’s finished. We maintained an environmentally conscious ethic in choosing all materials. Except for the nontoxic adhesives and the plant based finishes, these cabinets are made from 100 recycled and up-cycled materials.

As with all our furniture and custom cabinetry, the highest level of craftsmanship ensures the pieces will last, our favorite way to be sustainable.

I’d like to welcome Peggy with Everthing Goes Thrift shops in Staten Island. They have 4 wonderful shops specializing in clothing, books, furniture and a gallery. Their first store opened in 1983 and they have expanded from one floor to three and from one building to four! When I browsed their clothing website, I saw some very cool costume ideas for Halloween which is coming up soon! Here’s some more from Peggy about ETG’s vision…

By serving a wide range of customer needs from practical to theatrical, frivolous to formal, retro to contemporary; By reclaiming used clothing, books, furniture, and other household items, restoring their beauty and function. We attempt to reduce our negative impact on the environment, taking into account the earth’s limited resources and the needs of our fellow inhabitants worldwide; By meeting all these needs and desires at the lowest cost possible, with the best service we can offer; By supporting cooperative living and simple living values; and By designing fun places to shop and work – places that inspire us to find new and creative purposes for the reuseable resources around us.

Everyone who works in the stores lives together and shares in the stores’ profits. Because we live and work together, work relationships and conflict resolution are important to us. We seek open and caring ways of relating to one another in which we regard problems as opportunities to work together. And we find that when we do put our minds together to solve problems we make better decisions.  We want to extend this caring of each other to our customers as well. We view our customers as unique, valuable people who add to our lives by sharing theirs.

Visit ETG clothing today and check out all four of their storefront online. Be sure to stop by when you are in the Staten island area and take a peak!