In my last post about the Kiss the Horse fundraiser, I promised you all a piece on Repurposedme Silverware Art. Here it is, in all it's glory. I'm excited about it, and you should be, too.
Reusing old materials to make something brand new, is not a new concept. Lots of people, including myself, recycle paper or plastic materials they use everyday. It helps me rest peacefully at night, knowing that my box-o-wine shell may be put to good use as a Starbucks napkin sometime in the near future.
We've all heard the saying, "one man's trash is another man's treasure." Many people scoff at the generic and fable-esque meaning, not realizing that it is the very idea behind the idea of recycling. Most of the details of "reduce, reuse, recycle" go on out of sight, and we fail to apply the concept to anything other than household garbage.
Truth of the matter is, many objects and materials you encounter every day have the capacity to function in more ways than what they're originally designed for. Sometimes it just takes a creative mind to harness the hidden power of an everyday object.
Jody Schaible is the genius behind the art at Repurposedme. He takes forks, spoons, butter knives, and the like and transforms them into stunning pieces of jewelry and other functional household items.
"Silverware is something you handle about three times every day," he says. "Most people never think of it as anything other than an eating utensil." And he's right. You ask anyone on the street what they'd use a fork for, and about 95% of them will tell you it's used for eating. I save that five percent for guys like Jody, and for any girl who still clings to the Little Mermaid's fashioning of the device.
The idea for the silverware art first came to Jody when he and his wife, Elaine, found themselves needing some tie backs for their curtains. Jody twisted a couple of spoons to the shape of a curtain hook, attached them to the wall, and BAM! Repurposedme is born.
The way I've just described that event makes silverware art sound simple, but let's be real. Anyone can bend a spoon into a circle and call it a curtain tie or bracelet; but what Jody is doing here is truly turning the material into art.
These Aren't Your Mother's Spoon Rings
What makes Respurposedme so inarguably cool, is that it combines old-fashioned and modern art into a single piece with massive appeal. Jody considers the decoration and qualities of his materials before his own designs, fashioning each piece to display the intricate carvings or pattern of the original piece. Each handle and prong is then precisely flattened, twisted or tweaked to produce a watch, money clip, or wall hook that is flat-out awesome.
A lot of his designs have clever or witty quips engraved onto them, which I find both amusing and irresistible. Elaine sports a bracelet that reads "smooth like butter." Appropriately enough, the bracelet is fashioned from an old butter knife. How clever is that? The irony of it all is too fantastic.
Aesthetics and decoration aside, what I really dig about Repurposedme is the way it's so "green," and so unconventional. Jody is taking materials that most people would chuck in a dumpster (and subsequently a landfill), and he's turning it into functional art that nobody in their right mind would toss. He's saving waste and rescuing innocent flatware from an eternity of non-compostable damnation. This stuff doesn't just look cool, it is cool. I haven't been able to eat a meal the same way since I first discovered Repurposedme. Many mornings, I find myself wondering how my Coco Puff laden utensil would look dangling from my left earlobe.Repurposedme has been in the works for about a year now, but has only been making rounds on the outside for seven months. Jody brought the brand to it's first craft fair at the First Friday Artwalk back in May, and hasn't looked back since (lucky for us!). On most Saturday mornings, you'll find Jody and Elaine set up at the Ocala Farm Market (which takes place each Saturday from 8am-1pm on the Ocala Downtown Square).
All of Repurposedme's pieces are original and unique, and Jody will customize or size any piece to the perfect fit. Keep an eye out, you're guaranteed to see something you like, that you'll eventually grow to love. I haven't taken my spoon ring of since the day I bought it.
You can count on hearing more about Repurposedme Silverware Art from me in the future; I want to decorate my entire self and house in this stuff.
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| Look for Elaine and Jody on the Square this Saturday! |
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