NAME: Jann & Jeff
WHERE ARE YOUR DIGS: Nova Scotia, Canada
COMPANY NAME: 2ReVert
WEBSITE: www.2ReVert.com
CRAFT TOOL YOU CAN NOT LIVE WITHOUT: Jeff can’t live without his Dremel, Jann’s favourite tool would be a nice set of flat pliers.
FINISH THE SENTENCE: When I am not recycling skateboards I am working our other full time jobs (ditto for us both!)
Do either of you skate? I’m assuming someone did/does and broke a board at some point to realize there were lovely colored Gobstopper like layers inside and all kinds of design possibilities. If not how did the light bulb go off to use old decks?
Jeff skated until the age of 16, and is currently skating (badly) for the first time in almost 20 years. As for the light bulb effect, Jann has worked in the recycling industry as an Administration Supervisor for 13 years (must note… she started at 17, she’s not as old (I mean *wise*) as Jeff), and have seen decks, bikes, tires, juice packs, bottles, books etc. recycled and turned into things for a long time. We thought we could put our own spin on things and with Jeff’s interest in wood working and Jann’s interest in jewelry it was a perfect match for us to mess around with.
Where do you find your decks? I love the story on your Etsy page explaining how you hypothesize who once owned each deck and what their skating prowess was like.
The old decks come from local skaters and some great local shops. It is very interesting to look at the decks and read what’s been written on them, love that part!
Do the skateboards come to you as just the wooden deck? I was curious what you did with the trucks and wheels, any recycling possibilities for those?
Yes, it’s usually just the wooden deck.
I know some skateboards are very collectible and worth a lot of money. Do you pay any attention to what decks you have to see if you are sitting on something that could put the kids through college or is each deck fair game when it comes to making jewelry?
Certain ones we always keep an eye out for, like some of the first Enjoi boards and there is a local skateboard graphic designer, named Andrew Piper of Monark boards that signed one of his argyle boards so that one’s off limits.
One glance at your Etsy page and it is clear that 2ReVert is very dedicated to the environment. Besides the fact that your jewelry is made from recycled skate board decks what else does your company do to help keep things green as far as top coats, packaging, excess decks and more.
We are huge into the environment and wanted to make sure that our company carried it through the whole process. It starts right from the beginning, even if a deck is unuseable for 2ReVert we will still take it in. The decks that we can’t use (or scraps from decks used) all go to the local Waste Management Parks wood collection for further reuse (so any deck that lands at 2ReVert will never land in the ground!). We then use nontoxic sealer to seal the pieces. Packaging is all recycled materials: we use a single sheet of recycled tissue paper to wrap the item, tie it with natural hemp, place our recycled business card inside a recycled padded envelope (that is padded with paper, not bubbles for easy recycling again). When we are ready to take the package to the post office, Jeff usually hops on his bike to take the package over to them. It’s been so nice to see over the past many years that the environment is starting to take a more important role in many peoples lives.
Tell us a little bit about EcoEtsy Team. How does one join and how does it effect your business.
Team EcoEtsy is like minded people on Etsy that sell recycled or eco-friendly items, it’s a great group of people. They are currently not accepting new members at this time, but you can always check out the blog…
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