Kent, UK - Women have become much more visible, working within the architectural salvage trade. A good example of this would be Grayson Goldsmith. She began working at Black Dog Architectural Salvage straight out of college, having studied sustainable development. Then, she learned the trade live on the US television series Salvage Dawgs. She later explained the responsibility she felt of not appearing like the 'weak link', especially in the field. Grayson said she wore multiple hats as she trained on the job in skills ranging from buying, selling, and researching to salvaging and renovating. And her most memorable moment was rescuing the steeples from her great-grandmother's church. She removed the crosses from the top and said, 'The moment of it all was so big.'

'Hats Off' to women working, using, writing about and designing with architectural salvage was the theme of Salvo Fair 2016. We wanted to celebrate the women working in the architectural salvage trade, traditionally a 'man's world'. There were impromptu talks and the 'Hats off' SalvoNEWs stories to prove it is now a woman's world too. One of these women was Ruby Hazael, who ran the annual Salvo architectural salvage fairs with Salvo founder Thornton Kay. Ruby was centre-stage at the Salvo Fair for sixteen years.

Louise Coster, from Mongers, said, 'Like plenty of other women, I'm pretty good at multitasking. You need to wear lots of hats in this business - you just never know from one day to the next what you will be doing. Whether it's cleaning old toilets or advising an interior designer on accessories to go into a restaurant washroom.' Her tips for other women entering the world of salvage are, 'You need to be prepared to get dirty and muck in when you have to, but choose a specialist area that you can develop a genuine expertise in.'

Janine and Deb Davies-Tutt from Ashwells Reclaimed Timber are both very enthusiastic about reclaiming and saving wood, 'That's why we're here. If we weren't all rescuing this stuff, it would be ending up in landfill, which would be a terrible thing.' Janine also commented that sometimes people are caught off guard and surprised to see a woman turn up at a site visit. 'They don't expect us to know as much about the timber trade.' Then Debs sums up why salvage makes you feel so good, 'I love putting my glass of wine down on our garden table knowing that piece of timber has been around for hundreds of years and has a big story to tell.'

From Elham Antiques, Lin Chambers gave a fascinating talk of her experiences over the years of selling architectural salvage and antiques. She told of how it all began when she unintentionally filled a warehouse with salvage and began selling it with her then partner Julian. She also mentioned her memory and inspiration of the earliest yard selling 'proper' architectural salvage, Walcot in Bath, which Thornton Kay and partner Rick Knapp started. Lin highlighted the importance of training and experience when designing with salvage.

There have been many examples of reuse design with original materials featured in SalvoNEWS, including those from Salvo's own, Sara Morel aka Reclaimed Woman, with her reuse design consultancy and personal renovation projects. You can follow Sara's current renovation in her Reclaimed Woman Column and tour her first carbon negative London flat renovation via the link below.

Laura Gaither, from the US-based Planet Vintage Girl, commented for a woman working with architectural salvage, it has sometimes proven to be more challenging to be taken seriously, 'You have to get used to men ignoring you ... I have even had sellers walk off because they didn't realise that I was the buyer. It just goes with the territory.' But her enthusiasm lies in reuse design with its benefits of making the planet greener. 'I just could not stand the environmental thoughtlessness of new products that I found in traditional interior design and architecture. I feel like I can champion salvage materials because I believe with my whole heart that it is the right thing to do. Don't get me started on the environmental nightmare of reproduction! I prefer the honesty of original materials.'

In the US, women are moving further into the male-dominated world of demolition but with more of a focus on deconstruction. One example is, Re-Purpose:Savannah, where executive director, Mae Bowley, currently runs an all female deconstruction crew. The Savannah Morning News reported how it often confused people to see only women on a deconstruction job. 'When they don't see men on the job, they stop and ask, "Hey, what's going on here?" But Bowley explains that women love timber and believe in historic preservation, 'They better know that pound for pound old-growth wood is stronger than steel.' She also loves the idea of inspiring a generation of young women to see their work and think. "Hey, maybe I could do that". The Deacon + Reuse conference is being held in Savannah, Georgia, this year, from 12th to 14th February, and Mae will be giving a talk about growing the industry.

Whatever the different life stories that have brought these women into reclamation and reuse, they all bond with the love they show for architectural salvage that is completely fired by their passion for what they do.