| sourced |
SCRAPPER’S DELIGHT Written by STACY KENDALL
MARBLE COUNTERTOPS MAY BE ALL THE RAGE, BUT BELOW THEIR REFINED SURFACE IS A DIRTY LITTLE SECRET: the staggering amount of waste their
“THIS IS A HUGE OPPORTUNITY TO NOT ONLY DIVERT STONE FROM THE WASTE STREAM BUT ALSO TO GIVE IT A SECOND LIFE WHERE ITS BEAUTY CAN BE APPRECIATED.” —ROMNEY SHIPWAY, SHIPWAY LIVING DESIGN
58
graymag . com
BRIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY
manufacturing process leaves behind. Almost two years ago, Vancouver-based designer Romney Shipway, founder of Shipway Living Design, discovered this alarming industry issue while working on an interior design project that required him to visit a stone-processing facility where discarded off-cuts sat piled in bins. Asking about the fate of the scraps, Shipway learned that if they weren’t eventually picked up for a project, they would end up roadside, tagged with a “free” sign. “That was a huge ah-hah moment,” he says. Upcycling the discarded scraps, Shipway created the Luna Collection: a series of tables (bistro, dining, coffee, and side) with circular marble tops and legs made from Douglas fir harvested from a sustainably managed community forest on Cortes Island, BC. “It’s a win-win scenario,” he says. “Not only do I get the material for free, I also hire the stone company that the scraps came from to cut and polish the tops for me. They don’t have to pay for disposal, and the carbon emitted in the excavation and shipping of the stone hasn’t been released in vain.” Shipway plans to expand his line of sleek marble products this coming fall by using smaller pieces of scrap to make desk lamps, umbrella stands, charcuterie slabs, and new coffee tables. »
