Asheville Treecyclers is an environmentally responsible
cooperative of wood processors, woodworkers and artists giving new life to
downed urban trees which would otherwise become a wasted natural
resource. Many of these are beautiful large, old growth and highly figured
urban trees which are doomed to be ground into mulch. As members we
work together to salvage these special downed trees, which have graced
our yards and parks, cut them into quality lumber and Treecycle them into a
wide variety of meaningful furniture, art and products with a very unique
story to tell. Imagine an heirloom chair or table handcrafted out of a beautiful
old maple that lived out its natural life in a clients own backyard.
As Coop members, we then have the option to market our “100%
Treecyclers certified” finished work and high quality materials directly to
buyers through our planned Treecyclers Coop Green Gallery in downtown
Asheville, putting the profits directly back into the pockets of our coop
members. Our organization is comprised of both professional and hobby
level woodworkers working together without middlemen or “upper
management”, so we can more fully enjoy the fruits of our own labor. We
are supported by conscientious clients and buyers seeking more
sustainable, responsible and meaningful furniture, art and other fine wood
products.
-Cooperative Wood shop and Downtown Green Gallery
Western North Carolina has a rich cultural heritage of fine
woodworking. Following this tradition, Asheville Treecyclers is happy to
announce the planning and development of our Cooperative Wood shop.
Think of it as a YMCA or health & fitness club except with top of the line
shop equipment instead of exercise machines. As a group of local
woodworkers and artists, we have decided to create our own large wood
shop facility that will satisfy the needs of both the hobby “weekend”
woodworker as well as the professional level woodworker making a living
with wood.
Our unique design features the combination of a large, central shared
wood shop surrounded by smaller personal studio-shops with a locking
garage type door opening into the main shop facility. Shop management will
be carried out by a shop manager voted in by coop members. And by
choosing one of several levels of membership we can offer a few different
options for local woodworkers. Initial site investigation will be focusing upon
the River Arts District in Asheville for the shop with a separate Downtown
Asheville location for the Treecyclers Green Gallery.
-Why A Cooperative structure?
Some of us feel dissatisfied with current work choices, simply wanting
more freedoms and options. Some feel less than self-empowered about the
continuation of working for a “boss” for a “wage” at the seemingly ever
increasing expense of family and personal time. We believe there is a way
to, in the words of E.F. Schumacher in Good Work, “enable workers to
produce necessary and socially useful goods and services; enable each of
us to use and perfect our skills; and to do so in service and in cooperation
with others.” We choose to try and work together to create a more
profitable option, one based upon our commonly held principles and
personal convictions of old-fashioned community inter-dependence, self-
empowerment through cooperation, sustainability and mutual aid.
Our research shows that as a woodworker coop, we can obtain lower-
cost, high-quality materials, have all the access to industrial shop equipment,
facilities and marketing outlets that we need to create and market our
unique “100% Treecyclers Certified” finished work and products directly to
buyers; all of which translates to higher profits directly into the pockets of
our coop members working together, without middlemen, to more fully enjoy
the fruits of our own labor.
-Some excerpts from our 5-year projections document:
“Asheville Treecyclers begins cooperatively processing urban trees
and produces high quality lumber, slabs, mantles flooring, trim/molding,
fire wood/kindling, mulch/sawdust for sale to public and available to coop
members for further processing into finished '100% Treecyclers Certified'
goods.”
“Asheville Treecyclers introduces new urban tree planting program,
partnering with local schools and local community groups.”
“Asheville Treecyclers introduces partnership program with local
university to design sustainable energy system utilizing Treecyclers wood
waste for biogas gassification as 100 % green fuel source which runs
Asheville Treecyclers Coop Wood shop facility and downtown green
Gallery.”
“Asheville Treecyclers uses a portion of it’s proceeds to expand
educational programs to bring school and community groups in to the
Asheville Treecyclers wood shop to participate in hands on learning about
urban trees, woodworking and to further the cooperative business model as
a self empowering tool of the people in our local community.”
“Asheville Treecyclers begins to branch out to other cities across the
nation, using Asheville Treecyclers cooperative system as a model.
Representatives from Asheville Treecyclers travel to new locations,
advising and helping new branches replicate the Asheville Treecyclers
system.”
If you like what we are all about, then let's talk!
Asheville Treecyclers
P.O. Box 8175 Asheville, NC 28814
(828) 484-9259
info@treecyclers.org
| Site Under Construction, Please Visit Us Again Soon! |
-The Full Circle Urban Tree Re-Utilization Woodworkers Coop...