Monday, December 12, 2011

Christmas is sustainable at The Bower!


On Saturday, we held a DIY Christmas gifts workshop in our Eco-Library. We made boxes, notebooks and luminaries; Staff had fun preparing lots of examples made out of reused postcards and different papers so that everybody could choose the perfect presents to make for their families and friends.



Thanks to Adam from Alfalfa House, who was the co-organiser of the event, we had one and a half page of advertisement in the Inner West Courier which was amazing, thank you a lot to our friends at Alfalfa House.

The workshop was supposed to last for two hours, but everybody had so much fun that we stayed for over an hour more, until the store closed and The Bower staff sadly had to go home, including Thuy, who gets special thanks for helping out and lending her binding machine.





It was great to see the participants being so creative: I explained the basics of every project at the beginning of the workshop, and everybody modified and improved them with their ideas.


A big thank you to all the participants! We had lots of fun here, and we hope your families and friends will enjoy their handmade presents!

Claire M

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

DIY Gift making workshop


Christmas is a great time for all the people who love to receive and offer presents! But do you really want to buy your friends and family another pair of socks or a new novelties tie? We have the solution!

The Bower and Alfalfa House are organising a DIY Christmas gift workshop together this Saturday to help you offering more sustainable presents this year! Come to learn how to make boxes, notebooks and luminaries out of reused postcards, paper and thread. They will be great unique and handmade presents for everyone!

So don't forget: the workshop will be held at the Eco-Library of The Bower, 142 Addison Road, Marrickville, on Saturday, December 10th, 2-4pm. There will be a $5 donation for the material.













See you all there!

Back from the Finders Keepers market!


What a great week for Curb Collective! After the graduation night last Tuesday, we attended the prestigious Finders Keepers market, which happens twice a year in Sydney at Carriageworks, on Friday night and Saturday.

Maaike and Claire went early to the shed to prepare everything. A big THANKS to John Bartholomew who transported the furniture from Redfern to Carriageworks on Friday afternoon and the unsold furniture to The Bower on Saturday evening after the market! 



We had one of the biggest stalls there, which allowed us to display all our furniture, and we were situated just in front of the fashion room, so we were highly visible. 


A lot of people were interested both in our work and in joining the class, and the enthusiasm was palpable. We had a lot of questions about how the class had been set up, how we had found the furniture and the fabric, and a lot of customers asked if we we interested in restoring/repairing/reupholstering their furniture. By the way, we are! Send a mail to Maaike at gm@bower.org.au with pictures of your furniture and explanations of what you want to be done to them, and we'll keep in touch!

If you saw a piece of furniture during the market but hesitated to buy it, come and have a look here at The Bower! Some furniture were not sold, and they are in our consignment area!

Don't forget to follow the activity of Curb Collective on facebook too by liking the page: http://www.facebook.com/Thebowercoop

Friday, December 2, 2011

Graduation Night at Shed 107

Tuesday was a long day for Curb Collective! We rushed faster than ever to finish all our chairs in time for the graduation night on Tuesday evening and for the Finders Keepers market this weekend.

Sam and I sanded and painted two dining chairs on which we will put the butterfly cushions the group made last semester. You could feel our stress of not finishing on time, but we made it! Stuart and Mick finished another dining chair with the help of Maaike and Jeanette - one of the brightest of our collection: it's orange and red!


Miki and Dominique tried as hard as they could to finish the pair of yellow and pink chairs started at the Newtown festival, but unfortunately they would have needed more time as they refused to sacrifice quality to rapidity... You'll therefore be able to see them next term! They will be great as first pieces of the new collection!



Some students stayed after the class to set up everything for the Graduation Night. We were hugely proud and excited: our furniture looks so different when they are on platforms!



A big BRAVO to Maaike and Richard who created an amazing screen out of wooden doors found at The Bower, where they displayed pictures of the transformation of the furniture. This new way to raise awareness about reuse impressed everybody, and our only problem with it will be to prevent people from buying it at the market!

The Graduation Night was a great success. 5 different courses from TAFE Outreach graduated, among them our Shed neighbours WEAVE's construction and repair students who did an amazing job patching, fixing, organising and painting the shed and Hobo Gro who create vertical gardens in reused palettes, and, of course, Curb Collective!

And guess what? We already sold 5 pieces of furniture!!! So come as soon as you can to the Finders Keepers market on Friday and Saturday if you want to admire/buy our work, the furniture won't stay there for a long time!

 - Claire M -