Mark Papa has been recycling and repurposing defunct, discarded items for new home décor use before television shows like “American Pickers” made it popular. Sitting inside Industrial Loft, his shop at 53 Albany St. that opened in November 2014, he is surrounded by a cornucopia of his creations: An old industrial circular fan that is now a coffee table, a wooden door that has been turned into a bed headboard, an old vent in a barn copula has become a chandelier.
For the past 20 years, Papa has been “climbing through barns, factories and abandon buildings” searching for that one of a kind piece that he can remake into something unique.
“When I started, the name ‘repurpose’ did not exist; it was just recycling,” Papa said. “It began as a hobby to make things for my house.”
Papa’s creations were so interesting that soon his friends began asking him to make furniture, lighting and décor for their homes. Then he began talking to retailers and consigning his work out to various shops around Central New York.
When the retail space at 53 Albany St. became available last year, Papa, who lives in Sherrill and was working as a full time commercial sales rep for a heating and plumbing wholesaler, decided to open his own shop.
“My first day here [in Cazenovia] I sold a lot of pieces,” Papa said. “So I quit my job.”
For the past five months, Papa has been a full-time custom furniture maker, home design advisor and businessman.
Just like on the television show “American Pickers,” Papa travels around to old barns, outbuildings, vacant industrial warehouses, falling-down structures, and “picks” his way through what’s there. “You would be very surprised how receptive people are when you ask them if it would be ok to look through their barn, outbuilding or a falling-down structure,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
Sometimes Papa “redirects” and “repurposes” what he finds, and sometimes he uses items to build something completely new from the ground up.
“People like this because it is mostly one-of-a-kind stuff,” he said.
Papa offers home décor of mostly any variety: tables, seats, wine racks, shelves and love seats. He said he sells a lot of kitchen islands, and he custom creates a lot of lighting.
“I’ll do anything I’m capable of doing,” he said. “For example, I’m not a cabinet maker. I try to lead people to what I can do and can design.”
In addition to his own work, Papa also sells artwork from two different artists in his shop. He offers paintings by Brian Lister and Gyotaku fish rubbings by Doug Drumm. In Gyotaku, a 19th century Japanese style, Drumm puts an actual fish on his canvas, applies colorful acrylic paint to the fish itself then presses cloth or handmade paper onto the surface of the fish to make an impression.
Papa has been in business in Cazenovia for five months now and, although business has been a little slow during the long winter, it started strong and he hopes it will soon pick up with the onset of spring.
“The groundswell has been great; the townspeople have been fantastic,” he said.
For more information, as well as photos of Papa’s work, visit the Industrial Loft Facebook page at facebook.com/IndustrialLoft or call the shop at 655-5604.
Jason Emerson is editor of the Cazenovia Republican. He can be reached at [email protected].
