Turning memories into art

[attach]4014[/attach]A Leslieville resident has just launched a new business that preserves memories in a stylish way.

Amanda Shapiro of [url=http://www.re-formed.ca%20]Re-Formed[/url] makes ArtCubes, essentially pre- or custom-made acrylic cubes, which hold everything from baby shoes to watch collections. You name it, she’ll enclose it.

The concept evolved over the last two years, beginning when Shapiro and her family moved into a new house and found themselves without enough art to cover the walls.

“It’s very important for me to have art I connect with,” Shapiro says.

Two stained glass windows and a Japanese slot machine called a pachinko machine, both given to her and her husband as gifts, were items they wanted to incorporate into their home, but didn’t know how. They were going to throw out the slot machine until Shapiro played around with acrylic and framed it.

“I always had a fascination with shadow boxes and things that encase things,” she says.

But most shadow boxes on the market are wooden, she says, and don’t suit contemporary décor styles.

“The acrylic is such a clean, beautiful medium,” she says. “We’re so used to a very conventional look.”

Shapiro’s background has helped her in her new venture; she attended New York University for Art History and subsequently worked in galleries building installations.

She does all the design for Re-Formed ArtCubes and has them cut and fused together in a Mississauga facility. Boxes come in standard sizes, but can also be custom-ordered, and customers can choose from different colours for a vinyl backdrop and also for the vinyl inscription on the front. Cubes can hang flush to the wall or sit on a mantle.

In the few months she’s been operating, she’s encased every thing from watch collections to a long baptismal gown that has been in a family for three generations.

She’s even framed her daughter’s baby cap and baby blanket, the latter of which she plans to give to her daughter when she’s 12.

“I’m totally sentimental,” she admits.

At the moment, Shapiro works from home, but the goal is to have a storefront or pop-up shop one day, she says.

The Ontario Works Self-Employment Program, which she applied for and started in July 2010 after being laid off, has helped her hone her product and execute a business plan.

So far much of her business has been local, Shapiro says. She also sells on [url=http://www.Etsy.com]Etsy.com[/url]. Prices for standard sizes are $95-165 while custom cubes are $300+.

“There are so many neat things in your life that you hang onto.”