Emporium | Gift Shop 

We feature the work of local artists, craft workers and designers who salvage, reuse and upcycle materials


Monika Schmid made her first appearance in our Emporium Gift Shop in 2003! 23 years later, we wanted to give her a tribute. She is the maker behind the Whale Shark Pencil cases you can find in the Emporium (see picture). 

Read more from Monika about her creative process below:

"The elements I use in my process of their creation are mostly fabric samples from Reverse Garbage QLD. Sometimes I find fabric in Op Shops too or even in the annual Kerbside Collection!

My most unusual material find was discarded umbrellas, after the last Brisbane floods. I could use their material to make some of my very original cases. 

The transformation process to make my pencil cases requires different steps depending on where I sourced the material. If I use the samples from RGQ, I need to take the books apart. It creates a huge mess! Then I need to remove the paper backing, which is a rather tedious task. The Op Shop and Kerbside finds get washed and ironed. When a piece of fabric is too thin to use as is for the body of a Whale Shark, I use some thick interfacing to give the fabric more body. 

During my making process, I love when it's time to turn the Whale Shark inside out (it gets sewn with the wrong side of the fabric out). This is when I see it for the first time! Then it's time to go through my list of names and see which name would suit.
A fun fact about my creative world is that I love names. Whenever I come across an unusual name I have to write it down and I have various lists of new names all around the house. I even have furniture with names! Almost every of the creations I bring to RGQ gets one.

I think that my Whale Sharks are different in that each of them are really one of a kind. Fabric samples are usually quite small so there is often not enough material to make several out of the same fabric and remember... they have their personal name attached to them."

 


Odoo CMS- Sample image floating
 
 

Meet our Artisans

We currently have about 30 artisans on consignment. Here's a few of their stories

For more information please contact our Reverse Emporium Coordinator

For Emporium enquiries, click the 'Contact Us Now' button or call us on (07)3891 9744 

between 9 am to 5 pm, Monday to Wednesday.

Reverse Garbage Queensland Co-op Ltd acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we operate in Woolloongabba - the Yuggera and Turrbul people. RGQ recognises their continuing sovereignty and connection to land and water, and pays respect to elders past and present.

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