From salvage to salesroom: Silverado designer gathers old items for new uses
For Jeff Mack, great design isn’t just about choosing furniture made from sustainable materials. He prefers to help his clients find a new use and often an unexpected love for things already with a past.
“See that?” he asks a visitor as he points to a set of wrought-iron gates in his warehouse. “Those are from Hungary, and they’re over 100 years old.”
Mack is the owner of Silverado Salvage & Design, an architectural salvage center, where he showcases building parts saved from demolished or remodeled structures.
Antiques, reclaimed wood, chairs and desks are just some of the many displayed objects that can be re-purposed into a customized design.
The Silverado resident had designed hutches, doors and tables in an old barn’s loft in the canyon before he embarked on opening a 16,000-square-foot warehouse in Vernon.
He opened the shop’s doors in March, and the space features a neatly organized collection of home decor finds from Germany, Austria, Romania and other points around the world.
Mack, who travels to Europe every three months, said he looks for pieces like distressed corbels, lighting fixtures, hardware, potting benches and farm tables, to add to the inventory of primitive pieces that can be reconstructed.
There, a team of designers can service furnishings that are made available to interior and landscape designers, architects, residential clients and do-it-yourself enthusiasts who wish to create custom looks for any space, purpose and budget.
With a mission to capture and divert construction materials that might otherwise end up in a landfill, Mack says designing living spaces with vintage and worn furniture can give character to a space.
It adds depth and a narrative not found in matching furniture sets, he adds.
“We think the beauty is in its imperfection,” he says.
Mack, a former senior management executive who worked for retailers Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and Bonwit Teller for 25 years, wanted to leave the corporate world to shift his focus on curating a collection of architectural antiques.
For over 20 years, he has preserved and specialized in creatively reusing castoffs and reclaimed items for functional and decorative use, like 8-foot-tall handcrafted old doors, antique wine presses and fencing with a patina.
He also has helped furnish sets for movies, such as “Saving Mr. Banks” and “The Magnificent Seven,” and television’s “Deadwood.”
Mack says today’s shopper is interested in rustic pieces that tend to have more of an industrial slant. Buyers are interested in wood floors, wood paneled and exposed walls and metal accents mixed with natural materials.
Socially-conscious customers who buy at vintage shops in search of re-purposing objects are interested in personalizing found pieces, he says.
Rather than impressing guests with a room filled with name brands, a homeowner wants to tell a story behind a certain piece, like that wooden crate found in Eastern Europe or a table they designed with a professional.
“A customer can express their creativity here,” Mack says. “Everything here is one-of-a-kind because we never repeat ourselves. You won’t see it again, anywhere.”
For more information, call (323) 277-4771 or visit silveradosalvagedesign.com.
Twitter: @KathleenLuppi
