Meet Fast Forward Presenter >> Brian Hawk

What is your Big Idea for Philadelphia?

Floored by Flooring: Old Samples for New Students

What should be next for Philly is an organization that believes in the ever-growing call for living green through recycling and repurposing. Every day, tons of usable items in the flooring industry are thrown away, but why? Why shouldn’t we utilize them for a better purpose than a landfill? Eco Arts and Games started with an idea to make art, games, and interior decor out of discontinued flooring samples and tiles that would normally go into dumpsters. We salvage tile, glass, stone, metals, hardwood, vinyl, carpet, and many other materials to create pieces of art and to make family-friendly crafts. Our community objective, through our products and outreach, is to teach children and adults the benefits of repurposing items that don’t need to end up as trash. With Eco Arts and Games displays and events, any aspiring artist can create original artwork and design their own games with discarded materials that have beautiful texture, color, and sparkle. The ultimate goal of the organization is to see art classes, Philly festivals, and community activities that are dedicated to eco art; those classes and events will hopefully inspire the next generations to understand the local and global benefits of repurposing.

www.ecoartsandgames.com

Brian Hawk, founder of Eco Arts and Games, has been in the flooring/tile industry for the past 33 years in many roles. As someone who has been environmentally conscious for decades, Brian has made it his calling to recycle, reuse, and repurpose in every aspect of his life: personal and professional. When Brian spotted thirty shiny, beautiful discontinued tile samples in a dumpster at work, he knew that the samples from tile and flooring companies needed to be saved from the landfill and repurposed for art, games, and decor. It was then that Eco Arts and Games was born. Brian's vision for the materials has come to reality in custom mosaic art made from the discarded discontinued samples of wood flooring, vinyl, and tile. His games use carpet samples and mini-squares to construct a variety of activities that are fun for all ages. Eco Arts and Games aims to not only keep flooring-sample materials from the trash, but to educate the next generation about the benefits of seeing commonly discarded items as being worthy of repurposing.