Kimmy Phi Ngo opened Orange County’s first creative reuse center in Santa Ana earlier this May, presenting a sustainability-focused space that blends art, activism, and community.
The center also features The Scrib, a dedicated meetup hub where the community gathers to create and connect.
A creative reuse center collects donated art materials. It offers them back to the public at little to no cost, or redistributes them to teachers and community organizations for use in educational or creative projects.
“Creativity can be very accessible, it’s just about giving people the tools to do it,” Ngo said. “The tools can be expensive but our goal at the creative reuse center is to make it more affordable or free for people to explore.”
Ngo’s establishment operates as a mutual aid nonprofit, a volunteer-run, community-driven system where neighbors share resources to support each other. Ngo’s mission to lower barriers to creativity shapes the purpose of her establishment.
“I’ve been to other creative reuse centers before and wondered, ‘Why doesn’t Orange County have one?’,” Ngo said. “After several years of working in the industry, I decided to go freelance and start a project that aligned with my community, creativity and desire for a more sustainable organization in Orange County.”
Ngo’s commitment to eco-friendliness was shaped by a childhood spent around her family’s tailoring work and by years in the fashion industry.
Growing up sewing and later seeing sweatshop conditions, along with the volume of discarded clothing, made her highly aware of fashion’s environmental toll.
“I couldn’t turn my eyes away from all the trash and waste the industry produces,” Ngo said. “I wanted to do something that was more sustainable.”
As the center brings together creatives from across the county, the desire for sustainability is evident in the customers who walk through its doors.
One of those creatives is Shannon Siojo, who learned to sew from her mother and deepened her craft during the pandemic.
“I thought the (creative reuse center) was a good way to combine sustainability and crafting with a lower budget,” Siojo said.
Ngo also hopes to strengthen the community in Orange County by creating a space where people can genuinely connect.
“We are bombarded with so much tech and visual noise, I feel like we are all starting to realize that something’s missing in our lives,” Ngo said. “It doesn’t feel natural, we are designed to work with our hands and with other people in the community.”
A feature that reinforces this sense of community inside the creative reuse center is The Scrib, a multidisciplinary art collective open to anyone who wants to make art alongside others.
“We have open studio time where you can come and gather and bring whatever you are working on,” Ngo said. “Whether it’s knitting, sewing, or painting, and be able to hang out with other people who are doing similar things.”
Ngo’s commitment to accessibility is something her team admires, especially donation coordinator and volunteer Deanna Gonzales.
“I think that it’s important for crafting supplies to be accessible to everyone regardless of the price point,” Gonzales said. “When you go to Michael’s and buy five things it’s like $100, you come here and buy the same thing and it’s significantly cheaper.”
One of Gonzales’ favorite parts of volunteering is meeting people and helping them on their crafting projects, adding that it’s fun to help customers on their creative journey.
“Everyone loves crafting, and it brings joy into humans just to create,” Gonzales said. “We do well because the community is waiting for this, because we are the first creative reuse center in Orange County.”