By Scott Boylston
(Photos by Chris Carr and Scott Boylston)
They say that something worth having is something worth waiting for, and what we had on May 27th was certainly worth waiting for. Our Trash to Treasure gala and silent auction—true to the spirit of an emergent structure—transformed into something many of us could not have foreseen, yet all of us have celebrated.
Our collaborative fund-raising event with Savannah’s Habitat for Humanity morphed into a much larger celebration of innovative re-use when we joined forces with a networking event hosted by Southern Pine Company, Wellfed Magazine, and several young, innovative companies on the premise of Southern Pine like Wooden Sheep and Dilated Spectrum.
The event began in the early afternoon, with educational opportunities, great food, beer, wine, casual music, and vibrant conversations between a wide cross-section of Savannah’s diverse communities. Guests were invited to tour the entire premise, which covers almost an entire city block. Innovative re-use is not just a part of the business mentality on site, it’s a part of the actual bricks and mortar of the place: The brick pavers in the above picture were the outer walls of a condemned house only 6 months ago, but they now cover the ground of Southern Pines’ courtyard.
The art and design work created for the This Ain’t Junk competition was on display during the entire event, allowing people to enter their bids at their leisure. Over 80% of the work that was donated through this competition was sold at the silent auction. Instead of thanking each and every generous artist here, we suggest that you visit the Repurpose Junk website, where all of the art/design and the creative contributors‘ names are prominently featured. Habitat for Humanity and Emergent Structures owe a huge debt of gratitude to all of these people! Without their talent and desire to help their community, our fundraiser would simply not have been the same.
Special thanks to Melissa Turner, who not only donated the beautiful sculpture below—which won the First Prize in Art Award—but has since contributed 5 large burlap canvases to the fund-raising event.
ABOVE: Eric and Ben of Wooden Sheep show some guests around their studio.
BELOW: the silent auction tables jammed up with bidders as the evening reached a crescendo.
As the afternoon continued, the crowds thickened, and the conversations rose higher in sync with the live music. Approximately 300 visitors joined the celebration.Thanks, once again, to Word of Mouth, for bringing such energy. The event, scheduled to finish by 11pm, rolled on with the momentum of their space-vibe, Devo-meets-Dead rhythms, until about 12:30am.
The event was an inspiring and energizing way to bring our collaborative fund-raising collaboration with Habitat for Humanity to a close. And we don’t think we’re the only ones who heard a sonic boom reverberate throughout the Southern Pine courtyard that night; a boom that marked the arrival of a new scene, and a new Savannah, emerging. What a strange and wonderful sequence of events that led us to this particular evening!
We don’t have photographs of all the bid winners and their prizes, but we do have this very special picture of the Honorable Pat Shay showing off the purse that he won for his wife Janice Shay. The purse was created from a discarded stuffed animal (faux fur, in deed) and an old belt by SCAD’s Design for Sustainability masters student Stephanie Farah.
Many thanks to Bloomquist Construction, JT Turner Construction, Greenline Architecture, and Ken and Jackie Sirlin!
And thank you Ramsey Khalidi of Southern Pine Company, and the extraordinary movin’ and shakin’ interns at SPC; Tiffany, Charisse Bennett, Meagan Hodge, and Kate Rusek! (hoo-rah for SCAD’s Design for Sustainability!)
More photographs can be found here, from Meagan Hodge, or on Southern Pine Company’s blog.
