Georgia Artisan uses salvaged wood from 2019 High Street fires

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Georgia Artisan is popping outdated into new, utilizing the salvaged wooden from the remnants of historic Macon houses that caught hearth final yr

MACON, Ga. — They are saying one man’s trash is one other’s treasure.

Three houses on Excessive Avenue in downtown Macon went up in flames on a Wednesday night time in 2019, sending 5 firefighters to the hospital.

“It was a home below renovation that wasn’t being occupied and it was a fairly unhealthy hearth. It totaled that home. It totaled this home,” stated Andrew Eck whereas pointing to the remnants of a downtown Macon dwelling.

Two of these buildings have been thought-about an entire loss, however now, over a yr later, the wooden from these houses is being salvaged and used to make furnishings that may dwell on in different homes.

Eck is the proprietor of Blight Busters, a demolition enterprise. Blight Busters is working to tear down the homes severely broken within the Excessive Avenue fires with out bulldozers and excavators so the wooden and different supplies from the houses can stay intact.

“That truly salvaged the wooden out of those homes,” Eck stated.

He additionally owns Georgia Artisan, an organization that sells handcrafted reclaimed wooden furnishings.

“So we promote tables, chairs, beds, all types of stuff made out of reclaimed wooden popping out of homes like this,” he stated.

Eck says the salvaged wooden goes to move to Georgia Artisan’s manufacturing store, the place will probably be dried, inspected, reduce and constructed into furnishings.

“This sort of wooden goes to be extra of an indicator as a result of it should have some charred marks on it,” he stated.

For the subsequent three or 4 months, Eck says the furnishings produced out of Georgia Artisan will likely be made fully with merchandise from these broken buildings.

Georgia Artisan ships its furnishings out to metro areas throughout the USA.

Eck says most of their gross sales come from exterior of the state and these items, constituted of the weathered components of former Macon historic homes, will dwell on in new houses throughout the nation.

“That is sort of us as a complete mentality,” Eck stated.

Eck says his firm takes satisfaction in turning outdated into new.

“The whole firm and everybody in it’s like that. We have got lots of people that come from totally different backgrounds,” Eck stated. “So we rent lots of people which are untrained and unskilled beginning out, whether or not it is right here on the demolition or within the manufacturing setting and capable of prepare them up and provides them jobs. Give them careers.”

Georgia Artisan has already began producing furnishings from the burnt wooden salvaged on Excessive Avenue.

“It is nice doing these demolitions as a result of it offers dignity to the neighborhood. We’re hiring folks from the neighborhood oftentimes, exhibiting that, ‘Hey…your home has worth,'” Eck stated.