Artist Spotlight: Gwyn Trotter

Each month, we highlight one of the talented artists in our reuse community. This month, it’s artist Gwyn Trotter (she/her) of Sustainable Furniture Co.!

Gwyn shares where she sources everything from, her inspiration, and how her sustainable furniture company came together. Continue reading below to learn more!

1. When did you start refinishing furniture?

In 2017, I started making furniture, for myself and a few friends, from leftover construction materials I found while working construction part time. Then, during Covid, I started repairing and refinishing furniture destined for the landfill that I rescued from bulk item pickups. Now I do it full time!

2. Which aspect of creating is your favorite?

My favorite aspect of creating is dreaming up designs and then making them a reality. Day-to-day, I love slowly watching wood become new again through hours of sanding, then wiping on my favorite eco-friendly oil and watching furniture transform from someone’s trash, into someone’s dream piece.

3. Where do you get your inspiration?

For the most part I get my inspiration from the pieces I find, each piece speaks to me after a few days of mulling it over, usually as I fall asleep. Sometimes, I see pieces I like online and pull from that, or I find something good at the ACR, like knobs or a color of paint I like, then see a design take shape from that element.

4. What is your preferred way to engage with your audience?

I love engaging with my audience in person. Every time I get to meet one of my customers it makes me smile for the rest of the day. I love seeing people’s excitement when they see the piece in-person, and getting to have a chat with someone new. I spend a lot of time working alone, listening to audiobooks and trying to learn how to use things like TikTok, which does not come naturally to me. So, I thrive on in-person interactions with customers. I also post on my Facebook page almost daily, and I’m thrilled every time I get a new follower or someone interacts with my page!

5. How does reuse play a part in your creativity?

Reuse is one of the biggest parts of my creativity; I try to be as sustainable as possible. Whether I find it on the street, from Buy Nothing, ACR or Goodwill, I love using found materials. These materials give me inspiration in each new creation.

6. What compels you to donate to ACR?

I have a lot of unusual leftover supplies and I find lots of great, sometimes brand new, stuff thrown away by others that I bring to ACR for donation or list in my Buy Nothing group. It makes me so happy to know I’ve saved thousands of pounds of usable, clean materials and products from the landfill. I know people use them for all sorts of amazing creative projects, or enjoy them as-is!

7. Do you have a favorite ACR find? How did you use it?

One of my favorite ACR finds was several years ago when I found a quart of General Finishes Queenstown Gray paint for 25 cents ($60 new) and realized that their milk paint is the best paint to refinish furniture with. Now it’s nearly all I use!

8. Where can we find out more about your work?

To see more of my work, check out my Facebook page Highland Artist Austin (Sustainable Furniture Co) - Facebook is the best way to see my work and it means the world to me to have people follow my page.

I also have a website, an instagram @sustainablefurnitureco, and an email sustainablefurnitureco@gmail.com for inquiries!

Please reach out on any platform you can! Likes and follows help me so much!