Recycling, reusing, reducing, remodelling, and reselling!  Juliet Arnott’s social enterprise ‘Rekindle’ is all about diverting reusable resources from waste via creativity and craftsmanship.

Juliet will be honoured next week as one of Otago Polytechnic’s distinguished alumni.  The awards take place on Friday May 5.

She studied at Otago Polytechnic’s School of Occupational Therapy and went on to use her creativity and craftsmanship with community groups, schools, health groups, artists and designers. 

Rekindle originally focused on diverting timber from waste within residential demolition in Christchurch, turning it into furniture, interiors, sculpture and jewellery.

One of Juliet’s more famous projects was Whole House Reuse, where her team deconstructed and transformed an entire earthquake damaged house into beautiful and purposeful artefacts.  More than 250 people from around New Zealand and the world were involved, creating everything from a delicately carved taonga puoro to a finely crafted backyard studio.

Juliet will give a public talk on May 4 about Rekindle and how she actively pursues creative solutions to unmet social and environmental needs.

What: Public talk by Rekindle founder, Juliet Arnott

When: May 4, 5-6:15pm

Where: Otago Polytechnic, G block, room 106.