Greensaw’s crew. Image via greensawdesign.com/blog.htmlTomorrow, Greensaw will become Philly’s first green, employee-owned cooperative and an inauguration ceremony will be held at the design/build firm’s NoLibs woodshop.
If you’re not familiar with Greensaw, here’s the low down — The firm specializes in the installation of artchitectural salvage, and uses locally-sourced and reclaimed material to create jaw-dropping, jealousy-inducing and downright beautiful home and commercial renovations. (See it for yourself here).
Before we share the party details, here’s a little background information on the inception of the co-op idea…
Greensaw founder, Brendan Jones was inspired to make his business an employee-owned co-op after reading John Abrams’ book The Companies We Keep, a memoir/business plan that champions employee ownership and workplace democracy. Philly’s history of cooperative businesses also inspired the decision, plus Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney in John Adams gave Jones the final push in pursuing collaborative ownership with his 14 employees. Some stellar acting can really get the wheels turning.
The idea of a cooperative model is a benefit to the City itself. Allowing employees to have stake in the company where they work encourages them to remain at their job and invest time and energy into improving the business any way they can. This in turn benefits the local economy, and in the case of Greensaw, helps to revitalize Philadelphia’s abandoned city blocks, and recycle useful material that could have ended up clogging our landfills.
Greensaw’s Co-op celebration will be headlined by keynote speakers John Abrams, Judy Wicks (founder of the White Dog Café), and Leane Krueger-Brankey (executive director of the Sustainable Business Network).
Friday, April 29
4 – 6 p.m.
820 N 4th St., Philadelphia
