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V O L . X X I N O. X I J U N E 1 , 2 0 1 5 36 A rtas Designs may not be a household name. But in the fi ve years since the Biddeford fi rm started making furniture and fi x- tures from reclaimed materials, it has become a go-to designer for retailers and restaurateurs aspiring to create a rustic, iconic New England aesthetic. In their workshop, hardware from a World War II aircraft han- gar is transformed into shelving for a restaurant bar in Portsmouth, N.H. Floor joists and a structural I-beam from a shuttered textile mill are made into chairs and benches for a corpo- rate headquarters. Wood from a barn that once housed cattle in a farm in northern Maine becomes a table top for a restaurant in Massachusetts. Artas has built a reputation that has made advertising unnecessary and a roster of clients that includes some of the most well-known New England-grown brands. To name a few: L.L.Bean, Coff ee by Design, Luke's Lobster, Allagash Brewing Co., Flatbread Co., Portland Food Co-Op, Not Your Average Joe's, Life is Good, Pet Life Stores, Timberland. Tadas Mikuzis and Art Timofejev, the founders of Artas Designs, were born and raised in Klaipeda, Lithuania. Enchanted by Maine's natural beauty and the people they met here, they moved here in 2001. ey began working with friends who were running Gorham-based Utopia Designs, transforming wood, steel and other salvaged materials from old aircraft hangars and century-old barns into furniture and fi xtures. ough the pair had never done this work before, and the concept of using recycled materials was completely for- eign, they quickly fell in love with it. "I found that building furniture and putting my hands on materials and coming up with new designs was what I wanted to do," says Timofejev. ough he trained as a civil engineer, "I didn't want to spend my days in front of a drafting board." And as the economy emerged from the recession, demand for eco- friendly furnishings was growing. e use of reused or salvaged building materials can help builders earn credits for the highly-coveted LEED certifi cation. In 2014, an all- time high of 675.9 million square feet of real estate space became LEED certifi ed, according to the U.S. Green Building Council, a Washington D.C.-based trade group. at was a 13.2% increase over the previous year. Sales of green building materials, which reached $51.8 billion in 2012, are expected to climb 11% each year to $86.6 billion by 2017, and $113.5 billion by 2022, according to e Freedonia Group, Inc., a Cleveland-based consultancy. "In addition to the lift supplied by general construction activity," Freedonia Group analyst Matt Zielenski wrote in a report, "continuing consumer interest in environmentally friendly products will increase the market share of most green building materials relative to non- green alternatives." Turning barns into seating for pizza shops In 2010, Mikuzis and Timofejev formed Artas Designs. ey leased a 5,500 square foot space in Biddeford's Lincoln Street Mill and hired two employees. eir fi rst job was to build booths, tables, and chairs for the Flatbread Co. pizza shop in Somerville, Mass., which was being housed in a former bowling alley. Soon afterwards, their work was featured in the September/October 2011 issue of Design New England magazine. As soon as it was published, they started getting calls from buyers from all over North America. "People like the fact that these mate- rials are not ending up in a landfi ll, and connectivity point design & installation / ME - NH - MA / 866-782-0200 / connectivitypoint.com Connectivity is everything. Voice. Data. Video. Reliable access to technology is critical to your business. Connectivity Point is a Maine-owned company specializing in network cabling, audio/visual equipment, security solutions, wireless access and telephone systems. We design and install the connectivity for what's coming next. We're like IT guys. With tools. FREE ES TIMATES at connectivitypoint.com NET WORK C ABLING / AUDIO VISUAL / SECURIT Y / WIRELESS / TELEPHONE P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY Reclaimed materials for an iconic look Furniture from Artas Designs brings the outdoors inside B y J e n n i f e r V a n A l l e n S M A L L B U S I N E S S F O C U S Art Timofejev, left, and Tadas Mikuzis, owners of Artas Designs, in the metal fabrication area of their Biddeford plant, say demand is growing for their eco-friendly furniture.

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