Create from a Crate, an innovative competition that challenges artists, furniture designers and woodworkers to create a masterpiece from an old packaging crate, is on again. Source: Timberbiz
Waste Converters Recycling and the Victorian Woodworking Association are re-launching the competition in a bid to highlight the inherent beauty of wood while actively promoting recycling and waste reduction.
With prizemoney totalling $7000, the competition is one of Australia’s premier woodworking prizes.
Create from a Crate is the brainchild of Ward Petherbridge, a passionate environmentalist and owner of Waste Converters, a recycling depot in Dandenong that specialises in repairing timber packaging waste.
“Timber packaging is commonly used for transporting heavy freight around the world.
“Over the years I have noticed the pallets and crates, originating from Europe and the US, were often made from highly valuable and beautiful timbers such as oak and elm.
“I couldn’t bear to see this timber sent to landfill or pulverised into mulch so I started approaching artists, furniture designers and architects to see if they wanted to utilise this incredible commodity.
“The competition is another vehicle for ensuring this waste stream is valued,” said Petherbridge.
In Victoria alone, more than 500,000 tonnes of timber waste are disposed of each year, with industrial packaging such as pallets and crates commonly ending up in landfill sites or being pulverised into low-grade mulch as a means of disposal.
Amcor Flexibles will be supplying timber from their waste stream for the competition and participants will have 12 months to deconstruct the crate and design and produce their entry.
“Each time we run the competition we limit the timber source to one item of packaging. In previous years we used truck engine crates from IVECO.
“This year we are giving each entrant two large pallets from AMCOR Flexibles. These pallets were used to import metallic film from the USA to make chip/crisp packets.
“The idea is to keep the material uniform so the entrants experience the same challenge of designing a piece around the limited amount of timber rather than designing a piece and then just going out to buy what they need to make it. This way it is the same challenge for all entrants,” he said.
The pallets can be collected from Waste Converters Recycling Pty Ltd, 185 Westernport Highway, Dandenong South 3175, or the Victorian Woodworkers Association in North Melbourne.
“There are no constraints on the design and making process. The only limitations are the wood components of the crate and the artist’s imagination,” said Petherbridge.
In previous years entries have been received from renowned practitioners including furniture designer Martin Davis, and sculptors Augustine D’allava and Emily Floyd. In 2003 John Sargeant, a Dandenong-based woodworker, produced a violin from his crate.
