The Scrappy Elephant’s Sustainable Approach to Arts and Crafts
By: Emily Mook | Photos By: Ashlee Glen
One of the most remarkable aspects of art is its ability to transform raw materials into a unique expression of creativity. When those materials are sustainably sourced, something even more remarkable occurs: as the materials are given new life many times over, several processes of transformation ensue and a mosaic of creative expressions exists within a single work of art. Of course, the environmental impact of creative reuse is also noteworthy; diverting materials from landfills helps curtail the production of methane and toxic chemicals that are harmful to the environment and to all living beings. Sarah Sweet is passionate about creativity and conservation, and she has built a business—with shops in both Charlottesville and Lynchburg—that is leading the charge in promoting both of these practices. That business, The Scrappy Elephant, has kept a staggering 199,431 pounds of materials out of landfills since opening in 2020.
After Sweet, a painter and former art teacher, had her daughter in 2013, she found herself grappling with increased concern for the environment. Determined to find meaningful ways to help mitigate the planet’s ongoing climate crisis, she discovered a creative reuse shop while on a trip in Nashville that would inspire her to ultimately open her own.
“As soon as I walked into Turnip Green Creative Reuse, I felt like I found what I was searching for,” Sweet recalled. “It was a place that combined my love of art and a way to positively impact the planet. I began researching Creative Reuse Centers as soon as I got home and visited as many as I could drive to in order to learn more.”
While networking with other CRCs around the country, Sweet made up her mind to open her own center and received some helpful advice from Utah-based CRC The Clever Octopus: choose a memorable name. Her choice, “The Scrappy Elephant,” is not only memorable, but also fitting for a female-led CRC and deeply meaningful to Sweet.
“When I was in Ghana, I had the amazing opportunity to see elephants in the wild,” she said. “I fell in love with them. And since elephant families are led by females, and this is a female-founded business, I knew I had to use them in the name. And I went with scrappy because it’s a scrap store! Also, a little from our website: ‘Elephants are creative communicators, kind, loyal, self-aware, and some of the most intelligent animals that exist. They can also paint!
The elephant embodies all the values The Scrappy Elephant holds dear: We are a place where creativity and kindness abound and where the makers who come here are aware of their impact on the future of this planet.’”
The Scrappy Elephant started as a 400-square-foot pop-up shop in Palmyra before expanding to an 800-square-foot space, also in Palmyra, in September 2020. In August 2022, the shop moved into what would become its central hub: an 1,800-square-foot space in Charlottesville. As the shop’s popularity grew, so did its square footage; it doubled in size in January 2024 and added on an 800-square-foot classroom space in July 2024. Then, as more and more Lynchburg residents visited the shop and expressed wishes for a CRC in Lynchburg, Sweet set her sights on opening a second location.
“After expanding a lot in 2024, I promised my team that 2025 would be a year to rest—but then a CRC near Lynchburg closed, and resting is not a strong suit of mine!” Sweet exclaimed. “We discovered the Launch LYH program and knew the timing was right to look into expanding into a new location and to spread creative reuse down south.”
Sweet opened a pop-up shop on Main Street in April 2025 and, after receiving one of the Downtown Lynchburg Association’s Launch LYH grants in June, Lynchburg’s branch of The Scrappy Elephant became a permanent fixture. Alongside these physical expansions and upgrades in both locations, staffing and offerings have also increased.
“We have also grown our staff (ten people now!) in our class and camp offerings, and we now have something called the Artful Elephant—we rotate eight artists every three months and give them the space to sell their work,” remarked Sweet. “We have always supported several nonprofits with our nonprofit rewards program; when customers shop, they receive a button that represents 50 cents and they choose which nonprofit they’d like to support. Each nonprofit then gets to come shopping for art supplies each month. Now, we are able to support even more with our Lynchburg location.”
Lynchburg’s current nonprofit participants are Amazement Square, Riverviews Artspace, The Arc of Central Virginia, Vector Space, and The Academy Center of the Arts.
Community members play a crucial role—in the capacities of shopper, donator, and even art class teacher—in helping The Scrappy Elephant achieve its mission of fostering creativity and creating joy while also reducing landfill waste.
As shoppers, customers can fill small, medium, or large bags for a fraction of the cost of new supplies. There is also a studio space available to rent for an hour of creative play or for two hours for parties.
As donators, community members are asked to check the shop’s website for a list of accepted items and to bring items in bags or boxes that they don’t wish to keep. Upon receipt of materials, staff members weigh and sort them meticulously to ensure an optimal shopping experience.
Finally, community members with art education experience are encouraged to inquire about teaching opportunities at The Scrappy Elephant.
“Most of our teachers are Scrappy customers,” Sweet noted. “Whenever people ask about teaching, I’ll have a chat with them to learn about their teaching experience, and then, if they are qualified, I put their class on our schedule.
Class prices are set by each teacher, and teachers receive 60 percent of whatever the class earns. In Charlottesville, we offer a wide variety of classes: mosaic, watercolor, bookbinding, crochet, knitting, sewing, printmaking, and more. In Lynchburg, we are slowly building up our class schedule. We have two amazing local Lynchburg teachers who have already taught classes and are offering more. One of our staff members, Marie, is going to be teaching some classes as well. If anyone is interested in teaching, please contact us!”
Of course, with increased participation comes an increased need for parking; as such, Sweet is hoping for a move this fall to a space with attached parking spots. More generally, she hopes to see an ever-increasing focus on conservation over consumption.
“Almost all of us have enough—if not too much—stuff,” she said. “I think it is important to stop and think before making purchases of any kind.
Owning this business has changed my shopping habits dramatically; I rarely shop for myself anymore and when I do, I almost exclusively shop secondhand. You can find almost everything you need at secondhand stores. I think it is important to think about voting with our dollar. There are many businesses that exist today to do good in the world and that put people and the environment before profit.”
The Scrappy Elephant undoubtedly does good in the world and possesses a unique ability to honor the past and, in so doing, also enrich and protect the future. There is also something singularly beautiful about knowing that a material that once helped someone express their creativity could someday help someone else express theirs too.
Sweet relishes the opportunity to facilitate this collective, cyclical process of making art and marvels at its far-reaching positive impact.
“So many people have been so grateful over the years to be able to bring us their deceased loved ones’ supplies, knowing that they will get used and loved again,” she stated. “So many people have been grateful to bring their supplies somewhere when they are moving so they don’t have to pack them all up and carry them along. So many people have gotten back into making art because of the Scrappy Elephant. So many people have started new hobbies after taking classes here. One person even told us that one of our meditation boxes (a simple upcycled cigar box filled with colored pencils, coloring pages, and a journal) saved her life and pulled her out of a deep dark hole. I love hearing how Scrappy is people’s happy place.”
