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This is very much a work in progress...

Dictionary page with the following quotation overprinted in heavy text: "we stood in the storm, and when the wind did not blow us away, we adjusted our sails. Elizabeth Edwards, modified'
With old system falling away, we have a unique opportunity to build something durable.

Where we've been:

Image collage featuring reuse-centric economic activity and business district design in the Longfellow neighborhood of Minneapolis
Junket (launched 2012), Minnehaha Mile (launched 2013), Longfellow Loop (designed 2022)
Image collage of products made using secondhand materials and supplies. Quotation overlay: "We crave the flaws of human handiwork." -Robert Frost. Products include exfoliating soap (includes reuse), sewing needles (100% reuse), mutual aid toiletries (100% reuse), printed textiles (99-100% reuse), candles (100% reuse), and printed paper (100% reuse)
Products shown include exfoliating soap (includes reuse), sewing needles (100% reuse), mutual aid toiletries (100% reuse), printed textiles (99-100% reuse), candles (100% reuse), and printed paper (100% reuse).
Photo collage featuring two quotations: "It's time to shift from being consumers to being caretakers" and "I like the feeling of being able to confront an experience and resolve it as art." Images include gleaned fruit & a cider press, visible mending/repair, collage, a handmade needlecase, a little free seed library, and a sign for a mutual aid program designed to center the contribution of existing goods that might otherwise be difficult to rehome.
There's beauty in the breakdown...and we find healing through the care and nurture of embodied energy & matter in all its forms.
Photo collage featuring multiple collections of small/creative goods gleaned from post-consumer sources: thread & yarn, ink & papers, fixturing and all manner of small, mostly vintage supplies & materials
This assortment - along with another 200ft2 of inventoried goods and supplies - is waiting to be put to best and highest use.
Photo collage of photos taken at events we've hosted in Whittier since early 2024. Shoppers check out wares at our Prix Fixe pop-up sale events, others help batch product and engage in creative process during a Make & Take at Centro on Nicollet. A vinyl record with an arrow painted on it points the way to a pop-up event, and we included a picture of Glam Doll's donuts (because what is life without donuts? ;)
Two years of connecting with community as we test and evaluate model options...

Where we're at:

A photo featuring the memorial for Alex Pretti on Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis
The memorial for Alex Pretti is one block south of where we're running the business. There's a need for relief and a significant amount of trauma.

Where we're directing our sails:

This section of empty storefronts is on the same block as Alex Pretti's memorial. We'd like to see it returned to community benefit in ways that honor - and build on - our community's resilience & integrity of character.
This is an image of a circular economy drawing that says 'an industrial system that is restorative by design' from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. We have overlaid it with two circles that capture only the consumer/collection/cascades/maintenance/reuse/redistribute/refurbish phases of the industrial model to clarify the design scope for The Reuse Project.
What happens if we implement a creative constraint? Do we become better innovators? Design better products? Have more fun? So far, that's been our experience.
Sample production cycle (no cradle, no grave): Books gleaned from an estate cleanout are sorted, graded, converted, distributed to various community recommerce, reuse, & education channels (best/highest reuse of all components).

Still working on all of this...

Why here, why now?