recycle | 365 Days of Love, Life & Travel

Creativity abound

Of all the places I see, large and small, town or cites I never tire of the wonderful and creative ideas people present to the world.

“Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures”-Henry Ward Beecher

It could be an exceptional business or a quirky idea that someone conceived and proved that it could work. Tinkertopia is that business. Located at 1914 Pacific Ave. Tacoma, WA, this was an idea born out of creativity, Launched almost a year ago as a Space Work Tacoma project, designed to match creative endeavors and artists with a storefront business that has been vacant for a while.

Tinkertopia shares the same sidewalk as the University of Tacoma on Pacific Ave. who decided to take a chance to see if the idea would work. The team consists of Darcy, a teacher with an early childhood and Montessori background and her husband, RR Anderson, a political cartoonist. They decided to put their artistic talents to great use and began to pull their vision together.

Darcy

What do you do with sustainable raw material that everyone else sees as trash? You find a way to recycle it to works of art. It began with a year of salvaging from design and architect firms. People gave things away. For example, 1940 wood bowling ball pins, by the carload. Even artists contributed unused paints and canvas. All of this would be done without the guarantee that they would meet the committee’s approval.

Then one year later on July 17, 2013, they were granted their own piece of the rock. The Space Works project assisted the couple in planning, organizing, marketing and finances. They gave Darcy and RR the expertise and training that a business major would know but an artist would not. Soon the community; consisting of teachers and families with children, began to rally and support this new establishment.

Tinkertopia offers basic, simple skill workshops not only for children but adults also. You can hold parties for birthdays or grown-ups who want a little free time to release the stress of everyday life and return to the child within. Darcy says, “When you are allowed to play, creativity comes through.” (www.tinkertopia.com)