Shop name: bemysharkShop address: http://www.bemyshark.etsy.com
In a nutshell: little pieces of trash from the ground turned into funky, unique jewelry.
Tell us a bit about yourself :
i'm originally from a city outside of detroit, but i moved to austin texas for grad school a year ago. i miss seasons and coney islands, but am coming around to breakfast tacos. i study and work in libraries and archives, with varying degrees of enthusiasm.
Trashion materials:
mostly bits of tile, glass, plastic, paint chips and the guts of electronics. i've started working with plastic bags a bit, too.
I transform them into:
jewelry! earrings, necklaces, pins.
How do you do it?
first off, i clean everything, a lot. i often leave things almost as they are, but sometimes combine them with other bits of trash or repurposed items. there's glue, there's wire, there's gloss, and then somehow it becomes a piece of jewelry that sometimes people don't think looks completely weird.
What inspired you to do this and why are you involved in trashion?
i'm fascinated by urban spaces and urban decay. i love taking long walks and exploring, and would pick up bits of interesting trash that called out to me. and it kind of evolved from there. i like it because it enables me to participate in a creative activity with sustainable materials. using what's already there is always better than participating in creating a need for more stuff to be produced.
Do you remember the first thing you made using the trashion concept?
yes!
What was it?
a necklace, in high school. i bought this big gaudy necklace from a thrift store because i loved the pendant. i took it off its chain and strung it on some leather lacing from an old pair of pants because i was really into chokers at the time, and i could [and did] tie the lacing as tightly around my neck as i wanted. i worked on re-vamped vintage/thrift jewelry for awhile before making the switch to actual trash-on-the-ground, my current preferred medium.
What are your current projects and what is on the horizon?
i'm going to be showing my work at maker faire in austin on october 20-21, so i'm planning a display for that. i'm getting people from around the country [hint hint, anyone is encouraged to help!] to send me bits of interesting trash they find, and i hope i'll have enough time to transform all that into lovely trashion jewelry and have a display involving a large map and beautified trash from all over the nation.
Why should people buy handmade, and buy from trashion?
to support creativity! to support the little guy! because handmade is really just plain better than all the mass-manufactured crap out there! people should buy trashion because it's great, it's chic, and it's eco-friendly.
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