Reclaim + Repair: The Mahogany Project

On View at the Museum of Vancouver from: July 20, 2023 - September 2, 2024

Reclaim + Repair: The Mahogany Project, curated by Propellor Studio, in collaboration with Museum of Vancouver, celebrates the creativity and craft of Vancouver’s design community, while engaging with questions central to the role of design in advancing sustainability as well as social and environmental justice. To advance the sustainability mission, I led this exhibition's production, constructing it entirely from repurposed materials. The exhibition demonstrates how sustainable design can give new life to previously extracted resources.

A diverse group of 31 emerging and seasoned local designers and makers were selected to create 22 objects made from vintage mahogany provided by MOV. The exhibition features a wide array of design objects from furniture, lighting and household objects, to jewelry, and much more. The idea for Reclaim + Repair: The Mahogany Project was born out of a desire to honour this material and the places from which it originated.⁠

About the Mahogany: The mahogany that was used in this exhibition came from a local business that specialized in designing and manufacturing boating equipment. It was harvested between the 1950s and 1970s in Guatemala and Nicaragua. When the factory closed, this leftover wood went into storage for many years. Recently, the organization responsible for the wood felt it was important to give it a second life and donated it to the MOV's upcycling design program.

Works created by designers for the exhibition are for sale. A portion of the sales will be donated to support Indigenous-led reforestation efforts in Central America, where the mahogany was extracted in the last century.

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