Salvage: Upholstery and Design

Salvage: Upholstery and Design Salvage
The saving or rescuing of condemned, discarded, or abandoned property, and materials contai Items can be purchased through his Etsy store.

Nashville artist Clay Bush studied fiber arts at the Appalachian Center for Craft. After learning countless techniques of manipulating fabric, upholstering furniture
became his chosen avenue for applying form to function. After years of
apprenticing at upholstery shops Bush began applying the skills of the upholstery
trade in creative ways, most notably with the use of an industrial sewing machine

. While visiting a junkyard he realized the design potential in the vivid array of seat
belt colors in vehicles dating from the late 70's to the present. In 2012, he merged
this discovery with his upholstery expertise to create Salvage: Upholstery and
Design. The Salvage collection of furniture, messenger bags, purses, wallets and other
items are made from recycled seat belts, air bags, and buckles. A nearly unlimited
supply of repurposed, industrial grade material combined with an artistically
meticulous process provides a product that will not only last, but also make a
stylish impression. Clay Bush’s work has been featured in Nashville Arts magazine, The Atlanta Journal Constitution and at Nashville’s Frist Center for the Visual Arts. http://www.etsy.com/shop/SalvageGoodsTN

Close connection-Making a connection. Found at the confluence of a methodically planned order and a fluid moment suspend...
07/17/2026

Close connection-Making a connection. Found at the confluence of a methodically planned order and a fluid moment suspended. Function converted.

Southwest Airlines seatbelts, buckles, and Eleather seat material. Seatbelts that have failed industry standard safety specifications

Thanks Turnip Green Creative Reuse for inviting me to be a part of this show! What a fun creative collection of pieces for Southwest Airlines at Lane Motor Museum
If you’ve never been to Lane Motor Museum go check it out. It will be up through next year. Great to see all the Nashville friends that came out to the opening!

Thanks for the great time last weekend Ann Arbor! So good to see so many return customers and new customers. Got to catc...
07/26/2025

Thanks for the great time last weekend Ann Arbor! So good to see so many return customers and new customers. Got to catch up with a bunch of art show carney friends from across the country. Even my mom stoped by with her doggo! The new work was a hit! Looking forward to showing it again with bags for order at St. James Art show in Louisville October 3-5.

I had this super weird dream! I was setting up my exhibit like usual, but it was in front of my house in my neighborhood...
06/25/2025

I had this super weird dream! I was setting up my exhibit like usual, but it was in front of my house in my neighborhood and all these neighbors I’ve never met or have only casually interacted with were the ones stopping by on their morning walk or jog. And Georgia was there!

Definitely surreal….

Glad to have a giant cul-de-sac to set up and get my booth shot of the new work.

Hey Ann Arbor! I’ll be bringing this new stuff and showing bags to take orders. July 17-19
I’ll be on NorthUniversity #710

Check it out! New work! Waaaay different! March 7th first Friday with .artist Two fibers artists! Laura makes incredibl...
03/05/2025

Check it out! New work! Waaaay different!
March 7th first Friday with .artist
Two fibers artists! Laura makes incredible knotted sculptural tapestries.

This new stuff is seatbelts that have been lightly coated in epoxy. 30”x30” and 26”x37”
Making the aluminum frames myself for now

New source of material! These are not from cars but from a local industry in East Tennessee that gets various fabrics that have failed safety spec for its specific industrial purpose.

Since 2012 I’ve been making bags from seat belts. Some years I have had up to 20 shows as well as online orders. Super fun doing the art show carney life traveling from show to show bringing these creations to such a variety of customers. What an honor to be accepted into so many shows and producing at a scale I never expected. While I’m still planning to do a few shows with the bags. I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes.

Hey all! I’m opening the back wall at the gallery . Come see my shop and a handful of local and regional artists tomorro...
12/06/2024

Hey all! I’m opening the back wall at the gallery . Come see my shop and a handful of local and regional artists tomorrow Dec. 7 from 11-8. We will also be open Tuesday evening for sip and shop Dec. 10 from 4pm- 8pm.

Select openings throughout the days leading into Christmas will be announced and by appointment.

Sorry for the FoMo to everyone out of town 😔 .artist

Woah!JazzFest!What a big thanks to everyone who stopped by and checked out these bags! Off the hook yet again! And then ...
05/10/2024

Woah!JazzFest!

What a big thanks to everyone who stopped by and checked out these bags! Off the hook yet again! And then a thanks to those that bought one and then to those that let me get a pic with their bag.
I often get asked “who are these for” or “are they for men or women” if you have to ask that one we can have a talk…

It’s so cool to see that it’s all over the place. When I started making these about 12 years ago lots of people were talking to me about how I need to find my customer. age, gender, pro car, anti car, student, mom, dad, business exec. etc etc. I’m glad I didn’t put much effort into figuring that out.

Also a huge thanks to my lovely wife and our moms that stopped by periodically with the most awesome food and iced rose mint sweet tea. They had such a blast checking out the music. Even my dad came out one day.

Hope to be back next year! 😻

Laissez le bon temps rouler! Day three here at Shooowee! Last here in 19’ and last exhibit was Nov 22’ cool to be back ☺...
05/04/2024

Laissez le bon temps rouler!
Day three here at
Shooowee! Last here in 19’ and last exhibit was Nov 22’ cool to be back ☺️

What’s on my table? Glacial inspiration! a month away😬Buncha words ahead….Parque Nacional Laguna San Rafael Aysén region...
04/05/2024

What’s on my table? Glacial inspiration!
a month away😬

Buncha words ahead….

Parque Nacional Laguna San Rafael Aysén region Patagonia Chile Northern ice fields packraft expedition 5 days 4 nights
Culmination of many regional Packrafting trips in the past couple years. Some pics of the glacial bits. I’ll continue to add pics and videos periodically in stories. Probably start throwing some pics from past trips and the weekly adventures we’ve been up to as well.
What a team with most badass wife of and of
Dropped off by glacier tour boat in the midst of snow capped fjords. “Time to put on dry suit and blow up your boats!” Tourists were baffled as we pulled boat, drysuit and generally small gear explosion from our packs and proceeded to paddle off towards a glacial river. One guy in his 60’s said to Keelin “you are my hero”
Proceeded to paddle, drag boat, shoulder boat and bushwhack a route that maybe a dozen people have done. Waterfalls cascading from 1k’ peaks to over 4k’ snow capped peaks towering directly over us with a few 13k’ out there. Dry suits were our daily attire while hiking thigh high moss bogs, boulder gardens, wooded jungles similar to home, braided glacial outflows, glacial lagoons with kayak sized icebergs to small yachts in size. Fun scramble portage beside and above class IV glacial river outflow directly behind us with sedan sized blocks of ice tumbling down the river. A sound I will never forget. Some Class III rapids that we might have first ever descent.
Two glaciers only accessible by packraft. Stunning campsites each night. Including two nights with fresh trout at camp.
Scouted route for next year of the Exploradores valley for a bike-pack-raft trip.
In the end knowing that we were coming home to the most exceptional rivers mountains and trails right out our front door with a glint of spring in one of the most biodiverse regions of the world was pretty sweet.✌️🤘
😍🌸🌺🌼🌿🍃🌱🌲🌳🍀🍄🪻😍

Kinda like shuckin’ oysters! I’ll certainly be consuming my share along with all the other fabulous food and music secon...
01/22/2024

Kinda like shuckin’ oysters! I’ll certainly be consuming my share along with all the other fabulous food and music second weekend May 2-5. 😬🤘
If ya know ya know!
Honored to be one of the few selected to exhibit. Heck of a way to start back after a year “hiatus”. Might be my only show for the year and not gonna open web store up either. Will see how some other applications turn out. I’ll let ya know. I know many of you have been wanting to order or wondering when the next show is.…. keepin it simple and enjoyable.
Thanks for all the shows and orders the last ten years. From solo production to managing mass production and sales. I wasn’t meant to sit at a sewing machine hours on end much less manage anyone to do the same. The type 2 adventures my most badass and lovely wife and I have been enjoying may be a glimpse into a future career alongside a limited run of bags at a show here and there. I’ve also been playing around with some art pieces with seatbelts and will let yall see that at some point 😉
Hope to see you at Jazz Fest or other show. Or better yet on the trail or in the river!

“growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell.” Edward Abbey

👋 from Madison, WI! Been a great weekend here. Great city especially the bike infrastructure and weather. Locals are pan...
07/10/2022

👋 from Madison, WI! Been a great weekend here. Great city especially the bike infrastructure and weather. Locals are panting and sweating the low 80’s. I’m just loving it. Headed up to Isle royal to kayak and camp for five days with high 50° days and 40° nights😍then explore across the U.P. until Ann Arbor show 21,22,23 🤙

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Downtown Johnson City, TN

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Tuesday 7am - 5pm
Wednesday 7am - 5pm
Thursday 7am - 5pm
Friday 7am - 5pm
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Sunday 7am - 8pm

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