Bay rubbish is transformed into stylish furniture
THEY’RE pieces of furniture which wouldn’t look out of place in any modern home – but you may not quite believe where they’ve come from.
Everything has been made from items pulled from the waters of Cardiff Bay.
Cardiff council recovered the items and picked Cathays furniture maker Gareth Davies as the man to transform them.
Gareth has a furniture business based in Lamby Way Industrial Park which only uses reclaimed materials such as pallets and scaffolding boards.
For this project he was commissioned to make 30 items.
From discarded pallets, barrels and even a Roath park boat, he created furniture including a chest, benches, bar tables and a bookcase.
Gareth had been working as a lorry driver before he was diagnosed with cancer in 2012.
He was unable to work for four years and was unable to return to his original job.
Then he began making furniture as a hobby.
“The first thing I made was a coffee table and then it just progressed from there,” he said.
After testing the waters he set up his company, Big G Designs, this year.
He now sells his items at Roath and Rhiwbina farmers’ markets with prices between £40 and £700. This project was slightly different. “Most of the materials I used for this project were materials which had been pulled out of the water,” he said.
He said the majority were usable once they had been dried out.
The council have used the items to create an “eco lounge” in a bid to show that recycling and upcycling items is easier than throwing them away.
The lounge is being shown off at the Cardiff Harbour Festival in Cardiff Bay this bank holiday weekend.
A competition to win one of the items has been launched. To take part you have to take a picture of yourself in the eco lounge and share the post online using the hashtags #BayUpcycle and tag @cardiff_ council.
The festival runs from Saturday, August 26, to Monday, August 28, and is in Cardiff Bay.
To find out more about Gareth’s designs, visit www.big-g-designs. wixsite.com/big-g-designs.