Hard Labour and Hot Pottery
Craig Gallien of St Martins’ Pottery isn’t shy of a little hard work, which was just as well when it came to renovating his new studio.
Craig already has a studio in Ferry Rd but had also purchased another building to convert into a studio. Demolition on the building was the easy part, but then building and reconstruction had to be done. Craig and his colleagues supplied the labour, and Waste Exchange supplied the materials.
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Craig first heard about Waste Exchange from the Recycling Works newsletter, and was put onto the Waste Exchange Facilitator Jim Forsman through a friend who had used Waste Exchange before. “We thought the Waste Exchange service would be a good way to get the materials we needed, and it had the advantage of making use of recycled materials as well” says Craig.The pottery accessed timber, batts insulation, plaster board, window frames and glass, and metal drums. These were cut down, flattened out and used like metal shingles for cladding on the shed and fences.
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“We got the materials over a period of time” says Craig. “It took quite a while, but then we weren’t in a rush. We were doing it all ourselves so it was good having it in little bits at a time.”The studio is still in progress. Approximately half of it is completed to the lined stage, and half is still under construction. When complete it will be used mostly for production of bigger items, storage, and clay preparation. Painting and sale of the pottery – mostly garden planters - takes place at the Ferry Rd studio.
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“Sourcing this material through Waste Exchange has saved us literally thousands of dollars” Craig says. “It has required a lot of labour, but it was ideal for us as we had more time than money. And a bonus has been the interesting people we’ve met, those that had the waste to get rid of. Everyone was very helpful and friendly. There was no way we would have got in touch with those people without the Waste Exchange.”
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