Supply chain kickstarter?

 

Tricia and I spend a lot of time talking about (1) cool things we could make, and (2) where we would get enough repurposed whatevers to make said cool thing in volume. Scaling up from the one-off to production is a big challenge when you're working with reclaimed materials. Ben Gould had the same challenge. After coming up with some charming bike chain jewelry designs (the LifeCycle line), he needed a steady supply of dead chain. 

The jewelry is interesting, and may or may not be to your taste, but the approach is extremely clever. He took it to Kickstarter and asked supporters to help with the costs of setting up a network with bike shops to supply his raw materials. He did his homework, estimating the average bike shop discards (usually by shipping to a metal recycler) up to 40 pounds of chain each month. Then he designed a logo and kicked it off. It's too late to join this campaign, but I love the idea of using Kickstarter to tackle supply chain issues.

 

Ben is also an accomplished costume designer, and if you scroll down to the bottom of the Kickstarter page, you'll see some amazing fashions as well.

Images from Ben Gould. Via Core77.