Local furniture company Anew Nature (inside Revive Thrift Shop, at 2200 S. Vandeventer, 314-814-4738) does more than just repurpose old furniture. Owners Robert and Erica Karleskint are on a mission to give a second chance to marginalized men in the St. Louis area, and they hope to use a new Kickstarter campaign to provide even more opportunities.
The Kickstarter, which launched November 3, has a goal of $30,000. If fully funded, it will enable Anew Nature to produce the Rise Collection, the company’s first commercially available furniture line.
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Through Anew Nature, the Karleskints provide internship opportunities to men participating in Mission: St. Louis’ Beyond Jobs program. Although their interns come from a variety of backgrounds, Robert says he specifically requests ex-convicts.
“My experience is that the ones with felonies are the least likely to get a job,” he says. “They made a mistake a decade ago. But these guys spent a lot of time in prison, and they come out as different people. They just want an opportunity at a normal life.”
So far, Robert estimates that more than 50 men have interned at Anew Nature, and he’s hired nine of those men after their internships ended. But a few months ago, he realized the company could do even more.
“Our business is so intensely custom right now that it’s really hard for a brand-new set of interns with no job skills to take away enough basic skills and tool knowledge to translate into a job,” he says.
So he came up with the idea of the Rise Collection, a standardized line that will allow interns to learn the entire process, from felling a tree to finishing a product. As they work on coffee tables and sofas, interns will practice such skills as milling, fine mitering, welding, painting, and wet sanding and polishing.
If they reach their goal, the Karleskints will be able to acquire new tools for production of the line, pay for materials, and hire new workers. In preparation, Anew Nature just opened a new workshop, located at 2201 Indiana in South City.
The Kickstarter campaign has pledge levels ranging from $10 to $10,000. Rewards vary, from vinyl decals to the line’s furniture items to spending a day with the Anew Nature crew.
Robert says the collection was initially inspired by a coffee table built for RISE Coffee House, but it’s also about “rising from your past.”
“I want to teach the guys how to sell, how to have integrity in your work,” he says, “that they can show up and have something to offer.”
The Kickstarter ends December 3.
