5 Question Friday With Tinkertopia's R.R. Anderson
R.R. Anderson is one of Tacoma's most outspoken and prolific artists. Last time him joined me for 5 Question Friday, he was talking about Tacomic. Now he’s part of a new artistic endeavor called Tinkertopia. I could try to explain what that means, but R.R. can do it a heck of a lot better than me. Here’s R.R.:
1. What is Tinkertopia?
Tinkertopia, LLC. is a creative reuse center specializing in alt. art supplies all rescued from the oblivion of our North American consumer culture way of life waste stream. Our creative reuse center also maintains an onsite "Make and Take Tinkerspace" or open studio where you have freedom to tinker with access to our book and tool library. Our network of Tinker Patrol Deputies are always on the lookout for perfectly good materials to rescue into a new life of creative pursuits. Anyone can become a Tinker Patrol Deputy... we give you a badge and everything!
2. Where did Tinkertopia originate?
Tinkertopia manifested out of the twilight zone... Ms. Darcy and I would always joke about quitting my commercial, cubicle bound graphics design job and opening a Mr. Jones Glass/Burning Man style junk yard complete with Red Green style creeper delivery van. We would imagine our store being much like the Creation Station up in Lynnwood, Washington or SCRAP USA down in Portland, Oregon or Urban Source up in Vancouver, BC. These dreams quickly became PLAN B after the design firm I worked for plunged into a violent death spiral. From the lifeboat, my wife and I took stock of our ninja skills... I a graphic artist with web and marketing experience... Ms. Darcy a preschool Montessori teacher with theater and retail craft store experience. We are fortunate to live in a city that encourages creative class entrepreneurship! We packaged our crazy ideas into Tinkertopia applied for a Creative Endeavor storefront with the Tacoma Arts Commission's Spaceworks Tacoma program. Cosmic convergence! I mean, I've been drawing hyper-local political cartoons since 2007... digging in politician's trash cans looking for stuff to make beautiful drawings out of. SKILLZ!!!
3. What are your hopes for Tinkertopia?
To survive, to become self-sustaining... maybe growing into a well worn community institution with that old book smell? When customers enter into Tinkertopia, I want to conjure the same emotional response that I used to get walking into one of my grandparent's basement/garage workshops that exist now only in haunting memories. We hope to create a place where things are taken apart... fixed and reassembled maybe not exactly looking the same, but looking better with that special patina of handyman ingenuity. We want to change the relationship citizens have with 'stuff' which we believe is critical to planetary health awareness. We're going to change the world or something! Maybe employee health benefits! Fun with a capital F! and capital U!
4. How can people help Tinkertopia?
We do pickups (click here for information on pick ups) in addition people can now Tinker Patrol Deputies can deliver donated materials for drop off at 1914 Pacific Ave! Shoot us an email rerun@tinkertopia.com or give us a call (253) 778-6539 if you have questions !
5. What's the one thing you want everyone to know about Tinkertopia?
We deliver 24 hr honest to god creative reuse customer support via Twitter & Facebook
I’d like to thank R.R. for joining me on 5 Question Friday. You can find Tinkertopia at 1914 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, WA 98402. For more information, check out the links below. links:
http://www.tacomaweekly.com/citylife/view/tinkertopia/
If you or someone you know would like to participate in 5 Question Friday, write to tacomastories@gmail.com.
- Jack Cameron