Day 3 and the word of the day begins with R ...I'm sure everyone is familiar with the three R's ... well, there are the educational R's, but the ones I allude to are there to remind us to be environmentally friendly human beings. We've seen them advertised on the walls of cafeterias, food packaging, bottoms of water bottles and many other public spaces: REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE. Wise words for this obsessed consumer driven age of "want everything, waste everything". So in this world filled with accessible commercial furniture products is there an advocate sending out a clear message to the consumer about the beauty of reused materials? You bet!
Schedule for Day 3
9:00 AM - All gather at the Barr’d Islands Church
9:30 AM - Presentations – Walter Peddle & The Dressler brothers
12 PM - Lunch for visitors & local people at the Town Hall
1 PM - Lecture – Frank Tjepkema, designer
Excursions - The Wells House, Don Wells' Shed, The Long Studio in Joe Batt's Arm
5 PM - Free Time
7 PM - Salt Cod Dinner for the visitors at the big Seldom house
The morning session begins with a further study into Outport furniture by Walter Peddle. The images are charming and please the aesthetic senses. Walter's passion is palpable and again his attention to detail is expert to say the least.
The next presenters are famous for their dedication to responsible furniture making and repurposing materials to create things that are beautiful and timeless. The Brothers Dressler are identical twins, Jason (left) and Lars (right), who run a furniture studio in Toronto. Their presentation shows us stunning examples of repurposed materials used to make superbly crafted tables and chairs. There are examples of wood that would normally be discarded because of warping that has been used by the brothers to make furniture that embraces these imperfections and celebrates the natural beauty of the objects. Their presentation is very inspiring. The R words rattle around in my head throughout.
www.brothersdressler.com
Lillian Dwyer shows us how rug hooking embraces the reuse of materials through repurposing fabrics.
Lunch is at the town hall next to the Anglican Church where the workshop is being held. 'Cold plates' ... a traditional Newfoundland meal usually served during fundraising activities. Easily made and easily transported the cold plate consists of several versions of cold potato based salads (mustard, beet and vegetable), sliced ham, cold beef, lettuce, tomato and jello.
After lunch we sit down for a presentation from designer Frank Tjepkema. Frank runs a studio in Amsterdam named Tjep. He discusses his recent works, including the award winning design of the Heathrow Airport executive lounge, and plays several videos which illicit many smiles and laughs.www.tjep.com
In the evening we head to the town of Seldom for a traditional Newfoundland meal prepared by Michelle LeBlanc, Shorefast consultant chef. The smell of salt fish fills the air carried on the steam from a pot full of potatoes, mixes with the smell of 'scruncheons' (fried pork fat) and the simmering drawn butter. The hearty meal is devoured in minutes and only bones are left. The participants take advantage of this time to relax, chat and get to know one another. Music soon fills the air, mingles with the salt of the fish and in this two-story saltbox house the Outport interior comes to life.
At the end of the day, back home on my couch with my cat in my lap, the R words still bounce in my head. And I think for the purposes of this workshop we should consider three new R's ... REPURPOSE, RECLAIM, REJOICE.
+ + + Greg White
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