If you live in New York City, or if you’re just a health food fanatic, then you may have heard of The Pump Energy Foods. With several locations across the city, they are growing and recently opened a store at the corner of Pine & Pearl.
Entrancing Entrance
The before image
Five years ago there was a set of doors that was removed from a structure in a South American city. The doors were placed in a cargo container and transported over sea and rail for several weeks until they finally arrived at our warehouse in Scranton. Here they were removed from the container, dusted off, and photographed before being slid between other doors of similar size and stature, and left in storage for the time. The photographs were posted on our web store.
There these doors stood, over crowded and unappreciated, for many months. The shadows of passing customers would cast onto the frame, light would bounce from admiring faces that would only walk on to leave the magnificent portal untouched. Until finally, near the eve of Christmas, 2006, a returning customer was browsing our web store and caught a glimpse of a thumbnail, and decided to purchase the entryway.
Front door installed
A Classic Revival
Tucked away in a quiet neighborhood in Northeastern Pennsylvania are several perfect examples of salvaged materials being given new life. The owners of this house frequented our warehouse finding multiple items to revive, giving ultimate character to their home. This shows that reclaimed architecture can be very beautiful as well as rewarding when used in the proper setting.
Interior view of house using salvaged materials
Olde Good Things In the Movies, Part 1
Here’s the first installment of what we hope to be a continuing series, Olde Good Things in the movies. The set above is from the 2004 movie The Forgotten (with Julianne Moore). The clock face is originally from the Shamokin (Pa.) clock tower (which had a unique history of its own, see also here and here).
The glass panels are actually corrugated with embedded chicken wire, reclaimed from industrial buildings and manufacturing plants. No longer manufactured, we’re the only remaining source of this glass, as far as we know. It’s also been used successfully in canopies as well as vertical walls and room dividers.
Also olde good things are the wooden table with industrial base (one of our specialties) and the wooden shelves in the background.
Portrait of the Artist
If you’ve ever been to a flea market in the Northern Virginia or Washington, DC, area, you’ve probably seen this man, selling his oil paintings on canvas.
Mladen ‘Gino’ Novak was born in 1948 in Zagreb, Croatia. He was schooled at the Maksimir Artist School in Zagreb. ‘Gliha’ was his teacher and mentor who has works hanging in the Guggenheim Museum in New York.
Leaving Croatia in 1966, he studied technique in Islip, New York, for two years, then attended college in Ethiopia to continue his studies.
He eventually came to America in September 1988 to escape from Communism.
Novak is well known known in Europe for his watercolors. He has an excellent use of strong, bold colors with an emphasis on perspectives. His style is impressionist.
Presently he works on commissioned pieces.
Here’s some impressive credentials:
- Has works hanging in Galley 11 in Zagreb, Croatia, alongside Picasso and other famous painters.
- Presently has an exhibition in Fuchs Gallery in Valbonne, France.
- Has work hanging in the Cochrane Museum in Washington, DC, affiliated with the Smithsonian Institution.
- Is in a “Who’s Who” book of famous modern American painters.
- Is a member of Washington Project for the Arts/Cochrane.
- His work was featured in the major motion picture “Little Manhattan” (2005) starring Cynthia Nixon.
Some years ago he saw our panels at a Northern Virginia flea market, and stopping dead in his tracks said, “Your panels… such symmetry, such texture… I must paint them. They inspire me.”
He now happily sketches and does preliminary design work on our antique tin panels before his commissioned pieces.
Here you can see some of his works on antique tin.
Olde But Good Video
This is an older edition of Home & Backyard (WNEP Channel 16) featuring Olde Good Things that we salvaged from the archives. The warehouse doesn’t quite look the same, but it’s still good for some design ideas.
Repurposing 101
Designer Kelly Giesen remodeled an Upper West Side NYC home using salvaged materials almost exclusively, including several olde good things such as this mantel (enclosing a flat screen tv!). This video originally aired on NBC’s Open House NYC.
Kelly’s work was also featured in a New York Times Home & Garden article.
Click the image to see the video!
The Lions in Winter
We’re a little late posting this (it was snowing at the time), but an intrepid passer-by took this shot of our mobile showroom at Broadway and 10th Street in New York City.
If you get to Manhattan, keep your eyes peeled for our truck.
Creative Corrugated Canopies Enliven Environs
Olde Good Things has been busy salvaging, repurposing, and designing spectacular living spaces using some of the incredible pieces we’ve unearthed from old buildings and scrap heaps. Not only do we salvage architectural treasures and design incredible magazine feature worthy décor, we also go out of our way to work with innovative architects who have an eye for visually stunning exterior design.
For an outstanding example of our partnership with skilled architects and reusing reclaimed architectural materials, look no further than these glass-and-steel canopies constructed in SoHo, New York City. The glass, carefully salvaged by the Architecturologists, is corrugated, embedded with chicken wire, tough as nails, and great looking. The corrugated glass is stronger and is designed to catch and defuse the sunlight in a brilliant way.
How did this stunning showpiece come to fruition? Well, we salvaged, the architects designed, and a skilled contractor installed. Voila! Art and ‘architecturology’ combined!
One of the canopies uses amber-colored glass, and the other (on the other side of the building), uses clear glass. Unfortunately, this glass is no longer manufactured, which means that once our supply is gone, it’s gone – another beautiful piece of architectural treasure lost forever to time.
If you’d like to own your own piece of this incredible glass before our salvaged collection disappears, contact us or visit one of our stores. We can provide cutting and drilling to specifications for your projects.
If you’d like to see other projects designed and completed by the architects, visit their website, Bone/Levine Architects.
For more creative uses of reclaimed glass, see oldegoodglass.com.
NYC Flatiron Building Copper-Clad Window Mirrors
Here you find original copper clad window frames from the historic Flatiron Building in New York City located between 22nd and 23rd Street and 5th Avenue and Broadway. Said to be the oldest standing skyscraper in New York, the Flatiron was designed by famous Chicago architect Daniel Burnham. These 100 year old windows are now transformed into lovely reconditioned mirrors, made from sustainable materials. Each mirror is sold with a sticker stating the authenticity of these frames. Copper clad window-framed mirrors are also available from other famous NYC buildings, such as the Toy Building, Cooper Union University and the McAlprin House (Herald Square). Take a look… sizes vary… call (888-233-9678) or email for more information.
