WASTE NOT

WORDS & PHOTOS Kim Newth

Streaks of old cream paint still cling to a beautiful wooden picture frame, fresh from the Silvan Made Christchurch workshop. On the back of the frame are the words: ‘NZ kauri, 1930s prep school, Christchurch earthquake timber 2011.’

Along with frames, Silvan Made is crafting items like trays, boxes, and trestle tables from lovingly salvaged earthquake timbers. For GT and Debs Thompson, the husband and wife team behind this enterprise, it is all about honouring and remembering the city’s lost places while also demonstrating the power of repurposing.

Before the earthquakes, The Silvan was their thriving art gallery and café in the heart of Addington. It was a creative base of operations for GT, who was then juggling a busy career as a photographer, artist, picture frame-maker, and film location scout. Debs managed the business day to day and loved the role, bringing to it many years’ experience in hospitality.

Everything they’d worked for came to a stop in the February 2011 earthquake. The café building was broken, the film and photography work dried up. Things were looking pretty bleak until the couple began fighting back with a whole new change of focus.

In the 1980s, in an earlier phase of life, they’d run a salvage business together. After the 2011 earthquake, they were dismayed to see so many quake-damaged buildings being demolished with no attempt to save materials. It led to the reboot of The Silvan as a dedicated salvage team. Their yard soon filled with saved timber, but even so, it was a tiny amount compared to what was being sent to landfill.

“We hate waste,” says Debs. “What happened was a crime against Christchurch. All that irreplaceable old timber was our heritage, and it got dumped.”

Fortunately, they found others who shared their perspective. In 2013, the couple were buoyed to be part of the Whole House Reuse project, facilitated by Rekindle. This involved the full deconstruction of a house in New Brighton, with all materials catalogued and listed for creative reuse, culminating in an exhibition at Canterbury Museum in mid-2015.

As well as red-zoned houses, other salvage projects by The Silvan included the 1930s prep school, Hillmorton Hospital’s chapel and Akaroa Hospital.

A film school graduate and artist working with recycled materials (GT Art), GT is Silvan Made’s chief maker. He honed his woodcraft skills in the Addington workshop of master carpenter Ray Hastie.

“I was using Ray’s workshop to make picture frames and could see that Ray was the most amazing joiner; I loved his skill,” GT says.

“When the film industry slowed down, Ray employed me in his workshop to help out, and I learned a lot from that.”

Artist Yasoda Dulal, who once exhibited at The Silvan, created the distinctive figurative sculpture that is their icon.

Along with GT and Debs, their daughters Terryn and Jyr are also very much involved in this inspiring family business. Silvan Made goes to market on Saturdays at the New Brighton Seaside Market and Sundays at The Arts Centre Te Matatiki Toi Ora and is also available through Sollos (The Welder), The Kowhai Collective (Guthrey Centre), HAPA and Felt.co.nz.