DETROIT (WXYZ) — On a sunny afternoon in Capitol Park Detroit, Bo Shepherd showed us around her and her life partner Kyle Dubay's new store, "Throwback's Home."
"So this is salvaged chalkboard from DPS high schools," said Shepherd while showing me their front counter. "This was originally 4 ft by 4 ft and we cut it into 8 by 8 tiles and we made our check-out counter out of it. So like I said, our business is to redefine how people see reclaimed materials."
Shepherd and Dubay say Throwback's Home is 9 years in the making.
For almost a decade now the duo have been building statement furniture pieces using only sustainable materials from our city.
They operate under the business name Woodward Throwbacks.
"It really started as a passion project, a hobby," explained Shepherd. "We were biking around the city exploring different neighborhoods and we noticed a lot of illegal dumping which is construction debris and random vintage artifacts left on the curb."
When the two started there were over 80,000 abandoned buildings in Detroit. Buildings that they say are full of usable materials and architectural history. So they used their talents to save them.
Throughout Throwback's Home, you'll find pieces of furniture made out of barn wood from local barns that have fallen, river pylons from the Detroit River, lumber from old church pews, and more.
One of their newest collections is made using drawers from the original Cass Tech High School.
Bo said; "We had emails and phone calls of ‘I went to Cass Tech High School, I want to purchase one!’ and like I said it goes back to that nostalgia."
Shepherd and Dubay continue to flex their refurbishing muscles and expand what they do.
In the last three years, they flipped a Detroit home with the goal of saving it.
"The house is amazing architecturally and it deserved to be renovated," said Shepherd.
She tells me much of the materials they use come from demo crews, construction companies and home owners who approach them.
Detroit generates over 575,000 tons of trash annually.
Society is always striving for something new.
The mission for this couple is to fulfill that need and simultaneously keep our city's spirit alive through waste free design.
"We’re hyper focused on sustainability because once that materials gone, it’s gone," said Shepherd.
Something to look forward to this summer ... right now, Shepherd and Dubay are working on a new collection using remnants from the historical Book Tower in Detroit.
