Bricksticks is open this Labour Weekend as part of Whanganui Heritage Month. The converted brickworks is a fully operational furniture workshop and showroom and is usually only open to the public by appointment, except in March for Artists Open Studios.
"When we have the shows I usually get asked
half a dozen times by various people whether they can have a wedding here or parties and things," owner Greg Betts said.
This year, Betts was happy to make an exception and has eight artists exhibiting for Heritage Month, including his own furniture, and weaver Mere Keating exhibiting in the remarkable spaces built around the old kilns.
The building's many levels and spaces are all built from recycled materials.
Betts was one of the first of his generation to dismantle buildings for reusable materials. He was part of the Early Modern Architecture scene in Wellington, but moved in 1986 to start working on the property in Georgetti Rd. The original brickworks produced its last brick in 1951, and was derelict until Betts came along. It took three months just to clear the building of rubble.
