Wood artist spotlight: Chelsea Vivash
Tell us a bit about what you do at Among The Trees?
As the General Manager, I lead our efforts to save timber from landfills. In the shop I'm hands-on with customers, helping them realize their projects with beautiful reclaimed timbers. Additionally, I drive our marketing department, spreading the word about our eco-friendly timber, educational classes and artist tenancies.
What do you love about your job / what gets you out of bed?
The 'wow' surprise factor that happens when the surface is stripped back. Like the best kind of magic lucky dip!
What’s your favourite thing about recycled and/or reclaimed timber?
Seeing these beautiful timbers find a new home, chatting about projects and getting people excited about reuse.
Working with lovely colleagues and in the inner west creative hub is also a big bonus.
Among The Trees is built around sustainability, but what do you personally find valuable about a sustainable outlook?
For me the only way forward is to re-thinking current waste streams, societal consumer mindsets and also the longevity of what we buy and use.
A Circular economy model (what Among the Trees facilitates) is all about connecting waste streams with consumer demand. Bit of a no-brainer - society is throwing timber away vs. society needs timber for projects, connect these two and you've got an endless cycle of reuse!
Using reclaimed also means there is a reduced need for virgin materials (less logging), less material sent to landfill, manufacturing is simplified (removing nails and resurfacing is simpler than logging, milling and drying a tree) and you get materials that have a history!
