{"id":18755,"date":"2015-07-06T16:12:21","date_gmt":"2015-07-06T20:12:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=18755"},"modified":"2015-07-06T16:12:21","modified_gmt":"2015-07-06T20:12:21","slug":"turning-reclaimed-wood-into-design-studio-quality-furnishings-artas-designs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/turning-reclaimed-wood-into-design-studio-quality-furnishings-artas-designs\/","title":{"rendered":"Turning Reclaimed Wood Into Design Studio Quality Furnishings: Artas Designs"},"content":{"rendered":"

While I’m a big fan of reuse and repurposing<\/a>, I generally don’t think of items made from reused materials as something that come out of a design studio. When I think of barnwood furniture, etc., I tend to think of outdoor workshops and sales stands on the side of the road, or at local events. But Steve Hanley show us<\/a> that reused materials can still be design magazine quality: Maine’s Artas Designs<\/a> takes used wood and other materials and turns them into furniture and furnishings for restaurants, retail stores, and other commercial clients.<\/p>\n

Take a look at Steve’s Green Building Elements post below, and then let us know about other design studios reusing materials.<\/p>\n

Artas Designs Makes Furniture From Reclaimed Materials\"Artas<\/a><\/h3>\n

Former presidential candidate H. Ross Perot was once asked how to become successful. \u201cFollow an immigrant around and do what he does,\u201d Perot replied. That advice would work especially well if you chose Tadas Mikuzis and Art Timofejev, who were born and raised in Klatipeda, Lithuania. In 2001, they emigrated to Maine and started working\u00a0with friends at\u00a0Utopia Designs. There they learned how to transform wood, steel and other salvaged materials from old aircraft hangars and century-old barns into furniture and fixtures.<\/p>\n

\u201cI found that building furniture and putting my hands on materials and coming up with new designs was what I wanted to do,\u201d Timofejev tells Mainebiz<\/a><\/em>. Though he trained as a civil engineer, \u201cI didn\u2019t want to spend my days in front of a drafting board.\u201d In 2010, the pair founded Artas Designs and hired two employees. Putting what they had learned at Utopia Design to work, they started by\u00a0building booths, tables, and chairs for the Flatbread Co. pizza shop in Somerville, Mass., which was housed in a former bowling alley.<\/p>\n

\"Artas<\/a>That job led to a story in Design New England<\/em> magazine. Soon after it was published, they started getting calls from buyers from all over North America.\u00a0\u201cPeople like the fact that these materials are not ending up in a landfill, and they\u2019re getting a nice piece of furnishing in their bars and restaurants,\u201d says Mikuzis, who trained as an electrical engineer. \u201cPeople really value the fact that there is a history behind the materials, that they might have something in their home or store that\u2019s from a 120-year-old barn in Cape Elizabeth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their products came to the attention of\u00a0John Soule, retail store visual merchandising designer for L.L.Bean. Soule tapped Artas to build shelves, counters and display cases for high traffic areas of the company\u2019s flagship store in Freeport.\u00a0\u00a0Artas built chairs, racks for\u00a0shoes and clothing, and directional signs. One of the displays they built even showcases L.L.Bean\u2019s original pair of hunting shoes.<\/p>\n

\u201cArtas delivers a high quality product using honest and simple materials,\u201d says Soule. \u201cTheir work demonstrates integrity, great design sense, resourcefulness and a clear focus on being a good business partner. We love to work with Maine companies when we are able. And we love even more when they share our environmentally friendly ideals. Using a local company affords the benefit of collaborating face to face, and our store design is better for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Artas<\/a>As their fame spread by word of mouth, the partners found work making chairs for Luke\u2019s Lobster, a chain of restaurants with stores\u00a0in New York, New Jersey, Boston, Chicago and Washington, D.C.\u00a0\u201cWhen a customer walks in, we want them to feel like they\u2019re coming into a lobster shack on the coast of Maine,\u201d says Bryan Holden, who co-owns the business with his brother Luke. \u201cTheir use of reclaimed barn board for seats and carbon steel for framing added a nice complement to what we are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next,\u00a0David Libby, president of Town and Country Federal Credit Union came knocking on Artas\u2019 door.\u00a0\u00a0He wanted them to design a 14-foot long communal table made from floor joists from an old textile mill and reclaimed structural I-beam and square tubing.\u00a0\u201cI was just blown away by their creativity,\u201d says Libby.\u00a0We wanted our space to have that connectivity to the outdoors. We liked the synergy that these earthy elements of reclaimed wood and metal created with our open, flexible office space.\u201d<\/p>\n

Using reclaimed materials has other benefits beside being nice to look at. It also contributes to obtaining LEED certification for buildings, a desirable bonus for many environmentally conscious businesses today.\u00a0The partners say their business has been growing about 15% a year. At a time when growth of the national economy is barely 3% a year, that is remarkable. Perhaps H. Ross Perot was right.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Artas<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo credits: Artas Designs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maine’s Artas Designs takes used materials like reclaimed wood, and turns them into design studio quality furnishings for a variety of commercial clients.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":18756,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[8311,8308,567,43,1100,8317,8315,8319,5520,8312,16,7606,8318,8320,8314,247,1907,1585,5864,5326,478,8309,8316,8310,8321,8313,3957],"yoast_head":"\nReclaimed Wood That's Truly Fashionable: Artas Designs<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Maine's Artas Designs takes used materials like reclaimed wood, and turns them into design studio quality furnishings for a variety of commercial clients.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/turning-reclaimed-wood-into-design-studio-quality-furnishings-artas-designs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reclaimed Wood That's Truly Fashionable: Artas Designs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Maine's Artas Designs takes used materials like reclaimed wood, and turns them into design studio quality furnishings for a variety of commercial clients.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/turning-reclaimed-wood-into-design-studio-quality-furnishings-artas-designs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sustainablog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"importantmedia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-07-06T20:12:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/flatbread-co.-pizza-shop.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"417\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Important Media Cross-Post\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Important Media Cross-Post\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/turning-reclaimed-wood-into-design-studio-quality-furnishings-artas-designs\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/turning-reclaimed-wood-into-design-studio-quality-furnishings-artas-designs\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Important Media Cross-Post\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/0fba455838de6fdc9ea0c24c81214e09\"},\"headline\":\"Turning Reclaimed Wood Into Design Studio Quality Furnishings: Artas Designs\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-06T20:12:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-07-06T20:12:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/turning-reclaimed-wood-into-design-studio-quality-furnishings-artas-designs\/\"},\"wordCount\":784,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"art timofejev\",\"artas designs\",\"boston\",\"chicago\",\"design\",\"Design New England\",\"Flatbread Co.\",\"freeport\",\"furnishings\",\"Klatipeda\",\"leed\",\"Lithuania\",\"ll bean\",\"Luke\u2019s Lobster\",\"mainebiz\",\"massachusetts\",\"new jersey\",\"New York\",\"reclaimed wood\",\"repurposing\",\"reuse\",\"ross perot\",\"Somerville\",\"tadas mikizis\",\"Town and Country Federal Credit Union\",\"Utopia Designs\",\"washington dc\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Business\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/turning-reclaimed-wood-into-design-studio-quality-furnishings-artas-designs\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/turning-reclaimed-wood-into-design-studio-quality-furnishings-artas-designs\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/turning-reclaimed-wood-into-design-studio-quality-furnishings-artas-designs\/\",\"name\":\"Reclaimed Wood That's Truly Fashionable: Artas Designs\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-06T20:12:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-07-06T20:12:21+00:00\",\"description\":\"Maine's Artas Designs takes used materials like reclaimed wood, and turns them into design studio quality furnishings for a variety of commercial clients.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/turning-reclaimed-wood-into-design-studio-quality-furnishings-artas-designs\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/turning-reclaimed-wood-into-design-studio-quality-furnishings-artas-designs\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/turning-reclaimed-wood-into-design-studio-quality-furnishings-artas-designs\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Turning Reclaimed Wood Into Design Studio Quality Furnishings: Artas Designs\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/\",\"name\":\"Sustainablog\",\"description\":\"Since 2003, Sustainablog has been one of the pioneers of sustainability news online.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Sustainablog\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg\",\"width\":200,\"height\":142,\"caption\":\"Sustainablog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/0fba455838de6fdc9ea0c24c81214e09\",\"name\":\"Important Media Cross-Post\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ebd66620452dab0cca874a25b4914ca7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ebd66620452dab0cca874a25b4914ca7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Important Media Cross-Post\"},\"description\":\"-- CleanTechnica is one of 18 blogs in the Important Media blog network. With a bit of overlap in coverage, we sometimes repost some of the great content published by our sister sites.\",\"sameAs\":[\"importantmedia\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/importantmedia\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/author\/imcp\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Reclaimed Wood That's Truly Fashionable: Artas Designs","description":"Maine's Artas Designs takes used materials like reclaimed wood, and turns them into design studio quality furnishings for a variety of commercial clients.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/turning-reclaimed-wood-into-design-studio-quality-furnishings-artas-designs\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Reclaimed Wood That's Truly Fashionable: Artas Designs","og_description":"Maine's Artas Designs takes used materials like reclaimed wood, and turns them into design studio quality furnishings for a variety of commercial clients.","og_url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/turning-reclaimed-wood-into-design-studio-quality-furnishings-artas-designs\/","og_site_name":"Sustainablog","article_author":"importantmedia","article_published_time":"2015-07-06T20:12:21+00:00","og_image":[{"width":417,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/flatbread-co.-pizza-shop.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Important Media Cross-Post","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Important Media Cross-Post","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/turning-reclaimed-wood-into-design-studio-quality-furnishings-artas-designs\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/turning-reclaimed-wood-into-design-studio-quality-furnishings-artas-designs\/"},"author":{"name":"Important Media Cross-Post","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/0fba455838de6fdc9ea0c24c81214e09"},"headline":"Turning Reclaimed Wood Into Design Studio Quality Furnishings: Artas Designs","datePublished":"2015-07-06T20:12:21+00:00","dateModified":"2015-07-06T20:12:21+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/turning-reclaimed-wood-into-design-studio-quality-furnishings-artas-designs\/"},"wordCount":784,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization"},"keywords":["art timofejev","artas designs","boston","chicago","design","Design New England","Flatbread Co.","freeport","furnishings","Klatipeda","leed","Lithuania","ll bean","Luke\u2019s Lobster","mainebiz","massachusetts","new jersey","New York","reclaimed wood","repurposing","reuse","ross perot","Somerville","tadas mikizis","Town and Country Federal Credit Union","Utopia Designs","washington dc"],"articleSection":["Business"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/turning-reclaimed-wood-into-design-studio-quality-furnishings-artas-designs\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/turning-reclaimed-wood-into-design-studio-quality-furnishings-artas-designs\/","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/turning-reclaimed-wood-into-design-studio-quality-furnishings-artas-designs\/","name":"Reclaimed Wood That's Truly Fashionable: Artas Designs","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-07-06T20:12:21+00:00","dateModified":"2015-07-06T20:12:21+00:00","description":"Maine's Artas Designs takes used materials like reclaimed wood, and turns them into design studio quality furnishings for a variety of commercial clients.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/turning-reclaimed-wood-into-design-studio-quality-furnishings-artas-designs\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/turning-reclaimed-wood-into-design-studio-quality-furnishings-artas-designs\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/turning-reclaimed-wood-into-design-studio-quality-furnishings-artas-designs\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Turning Reclaimed Wood Into Design Studio Quality Furnishings: Artas Designs"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/","name":"Sustainablog","description":"Since 2003, Sustainablog has been one of the pioneers of sustainability news online.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#organization","name":"Sustainablog","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/cropped-sblog-logo_3b.jpg","width":200,"height":142,"caption":"Sustainablog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/0fba455838de6fdc9ea0c24c81214e09","name":"Important Media Cross-Post","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ebd66620452dab0cca874a25b4914ca7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ebd66620452dab0cca874a25b4914ca7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Important Media Cross-Post"},"description":"-- CleanTechnica is one of 18 blogs in the Important Media blog network. With a bit of overlap in coverage, we sometimes repost some of the great content published by our sister sites.","sameAs":["importantmedia","https:\/\/twitter.com\/importantmedia"],"url":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/author\/imcp\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18755"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}