Salvaged Gallery & Collective was built out of the love and appreciation for forests and what they provide.
Originally a Northwestern Ontario girl, I grew up beside a small lake and trapline and became fascinated with what nature had to offer.
I finished studying forest ecosystem management in Thunder Bay in 2015 and worked in BC’s logging industry timber cruising and engineering for 4 years after. I saw the importance of forest’s supportive ecological and economic communities while working in this industry. I was drawn to the “non-productive, low-value” timber particularily. To me, they were the most beautiful, story-telling and resilient trees of them all.
I always made artwork on the side, and grew up in a creative household. This “low-value” timber led me to look at clear-cuts and “waste” wood in a new light. I started salvaging and up-cycling abandoned fibres into art during my down time.
Since leaving the industry, I worked various labour jobs… wherever I could pick someone’s brain. Fiber-glassing in Campbell River’s boat yard, cleaning sawdust at a mill site, and timber framing in Courtenay and Quadra Island. Buying my first tools at yard sales, I picked up skills along the way and grew comfort with hand tools and woodworking machinery.
I most recently operated from a woodworking shop based in Powell River BC servicing the Sunshine Coast and Vancouver Island. I have now relocated to Ucluelet BC to and have opened a studio and collective; Salvaged. This has allowed me to reconnect with my creativity again and with other artists to collaborate and show their work.
My goal at Tapiola Design is to reframe how we look at wood, used or “new”, while sharing its story with art and furniture.
