13 - From Hobby to Business: Repurposing with Heather Jeffrey

Heather graduated from the Industrial Design program at Carleton University in 2014. Failing to land a design job she decided to pursue one of her creative passions which was bringing new life to discarded materials. With her University degree and hands on experience growing up with a father in construction in her hometown of Coldwater, she took a part time job in Ottawa and in her off time focused on building her business.

She started by working in a small cellar in her apartment she often refers to as the “dungeon” and has since upgraded to a much larger shop where she does everything from sandwich boards, a giant connect 4, 7’ Tall Easter Eggs to complete redesigns for retail clients. Heather's passion for her work and the environment is on full display, in her interview with Casey. To learn more make sure to check out the links below and listen to the podcast in full.

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Businesses if you find that you are consistently tossing a specific material try and see if there is a way to reduce that,  maybe it's wooden pallets, PVC pipe, for example the Bridgehead on Preston gives away their Hemp Coffee Bags to customers, we know it's time consuming but reach out to Re4m and maybe we can help."
--Heather Jeffrey

Make every day earth day"
--Heather Jeffrey

Episode Links

• Heather's Instagram
• Re4m
• Habitat Restore
• Feline Cafe
• NuGrocery
• Bridgehead on Preston

Episode Timeline

• 2:28 Heather Introduction growing up
• 7:45 Industrial Design at Carleton University - Bachelor of Industrial Design
• 10:30 Learning from her father
• 17:30 Work life balance
• 21:00 the design consultation process
• 26:00 the “Dungeon” first workshop
• 31:00 Reusing displays from the Museum of Nature  
• 38:00 transparency in the consultation process
• 45:30 advice for business and home owners
• 50:15 the future of Re4m