Signal Tribune Newspaper

By Cory Bilicko
Managing Copy Editor

Part of the task, and indeed the allure, of “being green” is constantly discovering original ways of being environmentally conscious. The new Signal Hill business Junktiques, the Show Room is introducing customers to a unique idea for doing so, and being mindful of landfills is part of that plan.

What motivated you to become an ecology-minded businessperson?
There is so much that already exists in the world. Buying new materials to build our store would mean more trees and more resources used up. I think we all have to start thinking green. And if we each do our small part, the planet will feel the difference. By using all recycled and repurposed items for our store, we instantly created the atmosphere we wanted. Old furniture has a vibe.

Tell me about the store that your brother Jacob built with recycled materials.
When we created Fern’s Garden eight years ago, our primary purpose was to support the vanishing American artisan. Everyone knows that manufacturing jobs are moving offshore at mind-boggling speed, but the influx of cheap craft from overseas is also demolishing America’s strong tradition of handmade, beautiful, artful products. We are not anti-globalization; we just believe it needs to be done in a way that’s fair to everybody. So while 90 percent of our products are American made, we also carry lots of fair-traded and ethically made gifts. Having accepted this spirit of fairness and consciousness, it seemed quite natural to extend it to the very way we set up the store. Jacob, who had been using his talent mostly in the making of his perfectly tuned wind chimes, went to work on finding and re-purposing furniture that could work in the store. Soon, every fixture we had was from salvage or re-purposed!

What’s going on with the furniture that’s meant for displaying items in Fern’s Garden being bought up by customers?
At one point in the history of our original Los Alamitos location, we had an entire room devoted to Jacob’s re-purposed and renewed furniture. Boy, did we sell a lot of it! When we opened in our new location in Belmont Shore, of course we used his creations as fixtures for the new store. We quickly realized that it was too disruptive to sell the furniture that all our merchandise was displayed on. For a while we opened a special section for his smaller pieces, but customers kept asking us for more.

What is the idea behind your new store Junktiques, the Show Room?
We have a talent here in Jacob. He has a great eye. His background is of a fine craftsman making our perfectly tuned Jacob’s Musical Chimes for 25 years. But Jacob also has another gift: finding items literally on their last legs, ready to be re-purposed and given new life as a fabulous Junktiques find; instead of a pricey coffee table, one can give a home to a beautiful piece with patina and character– something that can be passed down. We live in a particle-board furniture world where we buy something then discard it on the side of the road, replacing it with another piece of particle board. We feel that furniture should be an heirloom and lasting for future generations. Why not save old pieces that were built with pride so they can be passed on to generations to come?

Please explain how your brother Jacob “re-purposes” furniture for the show room.
When you mix Jacob’s gift for woodworking with a creative spark, magic happens. When Jacob looks at a chair, for example, he does not see just a chair. Recently, he found an antique chair back: no legs, no seat, just the chair back. It has a beautiful elegance to it and now, using a part of another antique chair back, he has created a shelf that hangs on the wall. Besides knowing that the local landfill is that much smaller, we are rewarded daily when people are always commenting on our fixtures. That is the ultimate in re-purposing: he took what was essentially a piece of trash and made it into a functional piece with terrific character that is totally unique. So that is the essence of the mission of Junktiques. From trash to treasure.

Tell me about your personal views of landfills.
I think we are missing out on a great opportunity in the landfills across this nation. They should not be seen as piles of trash, but as a great natural resource with a huge potential for recycling. Recently I got very excited when I saw a TV program about the landfill in Sonoma County. They take landfills to a new level. All the green material from each home is placed in a separate bin and made into a rich, luscious compost that the community and vineyards can buy. It is composting on a huge scale. They have created a store where every single item that has a chance to have a second life, from bicycles to toasters, can be sold at amazingly cheap prices. They harness the methane gas from the remaining non-recyclable items and use it to run their garbage trucks. Check out the video at this link: http://www.sundancechannel.com/videos/230318495.

Junktiques, the Show Room is located at 1860 Obispo Avenue, Unit G (directly behind the Quality Inn at PCH and Obispo). Hours are Tuesday through Friday noon to 6 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.. For more information, call (562) 498-5656.

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