When Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, it damaged more than a million
housing units—half of which were in Louisiana. Houses and shops were
submerged in more than 10 feet of water. In New Orleans, more than
three-quarters of residents needed their homes repaired. Other buildings
were gutted, remodeled, or simply demolished. New construction removed
old materials in favor of more current ones.
To Alex Geriner, a New Orleans native and founder of Doorman Designs, that meant throwing out more than just scraps of wood.
“The materials have a ton of history to them, and it kind of broke my
heart to see all this stuff going to waste,” he says. “I realized there
is a story there that needs to be saved.”
So he started making them into furniture, working with contractors
and demolition companies to turn reclaimed wood and metal scraps into
headboards, tables, chairs, and dressers. Some materials are salvaged
from hurricane-damaged buildings, while others come from historic houses
that are being renovated. Geriner says some of the wood he uses dates
as far back as the 1800s, before the Civil War.