Michael DiFazio Reclaim Artistry

519-890-5931

I am a reclaim artist, I build furniture and art pieces out of older materials that no longer serve the purpose they were originally built for.

Why does reclaim appeal to you?

I’ve been recycling my whole life … as I grew up I got into woodworking and started really getting into history, I like old and vintage things.

Reclaiming is awesome to me, the fact that I get to take something old and make it into something new, and it brings the character  and story behind it, it’s super cool to me.

There’s more to the pieces I make than just a simple piece of furniture, there’s a story to tell. When you take something that already has history and a past, once it becomes something new, it takes on a new life, depending on what the material was, and you’re creating its next life, because these materials aren’t going anywhere else.

How do your clients respond to your work?

I get good feedback, my clients love my work. I bring them into the showroom, and they get to pick out the materials they want to use, whether it be resawn beam, bowling lane, regular barnwood, or whatever they want, they get to pick and choose the story they want for their piece to be built with and from.

What’s your favourite work to do?

I love doing dining room tables, big table tops, it’s a lot to work with, there’s a lot you can put into it, tons of ways you can do it … it’s such an important piece to a house, you eat meals there, breakfast, lunch dinner, everything is done at the dining room table, it’s one of the biggest pieces of furniture in your house – Good times, bad times, they’re all had around dining room tables.

What kind of work do you want to get into?

I want to start demoing buildings and reclaiming the whole thing – selling materials, building with materials, and also I want to do more design work, building a furniture line, my complete own designs that I can show.