current news
Cheers to 21 Years!
November 2, 2024
We’re excited to celebrate 21 years of Originate being in the Tucson community! Over the past two decades, we’ve been privileged to serve our amazing community, helping build spaces that inspire creativity, comfort, and sustainability. The number 21 holds special significance in numerology—symbolizing completeness and a fresh cycle of growth and expansion. It’s a powerful… Read more »
2024 Fall Market
October 10, 2024
Join us Saturday, October 19th for our 2024 Fall Market at Originate! We will have wares from 5 different local makers! Check out the market and then stay to help write letters for a Vote Forward campaign! See you there! Catherine Eyde will have her Tucson themed tea towels, tote bags and an assortment of… Read more »
Celebrating 20 Years
November 30, 2023
October 26th marks the 20th Anniversary of Originate opening its doors for the first time. We couldn’t be more thankful for reaching this point as a small business, and we would not have made it here without the support of the Tucson and Southern Arizona communities. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts! The… Read more »
Originate’s 20th Anniversary
September 22, 2023
For Originate’s 20th Anniversary we have organized 20 days of Giving. It is my way to support the Tucson Community who I dearly love. We are going to be unrolling 20 days of events from a Fall Market, work parties from planting trees to building with light clay straw to plastering, talks on rammed earth… Read more »
Fall Market
September 20, 2023
Please join us Saturday, September 30th from 12-4pm at Originate for our first ever Fall Market with local artisans that will have goods available for purchase and enjoyment! Catherine Eyde – cards, tea towels, bags, stickers Alysa Volpe – mixed media on paper Phoebe Lipton of Paper Alchemy- hand dyed paper flowers Sam Okerlund –… Read more »
19th Anniversary
April 26, 2023
Around our anniversary, I always feel grateful for all of Originate’s customers who have made it possible to make it to 19 years. Our success is because of each of you choosing to include Originate in your renovations and new construction. So thank you from the bottom of my heart. We have spent the last… Read more »
18th Anniversary
November 8, 2021
October 26th was the 18th Anniversary of opening the doors at Originate. We opened to be on a solar home tour in 2003! 18 years is like graduating from high school and heading to college! The business has changed so much, we carry the largest selection of products now than ever. We started with a… Read more »
New E-Commerce Site
June 11, 2020
So for the first time in over 16 years, Originate is venturing on a new path. If you had told me in January that we would open an e-commerce site, I would have laughed. But everything changed in March. More people are shopping online as they stay home. We are starting with about 20 products… Read more »
Rammed Earth Courtyard Wall
January 9, 2018
I have been dreaming about a rammed earth wall between the main building and the metal building, the construction crew named ‘The Barn’. It would enclose the patio between the two buildings on the west side to create a courtyard. Originally, a workshop was tentatively scheduled for the Fall of 2016, but then I broke… Read more »
Creative transformation to a 220 square foot living space
May 10, 2014
Paula and Becky set about to transform a part of their historic house that was under utilized into a second living space. The back of their house used to be a porch, then it was closed in, but the space never functioned well. They wanted the ability to travel, live inexpensively within the core of… Read more »
Why Yoga Oasis chose American Clay?
March 23, 2013
Why we chose American Clay: The colors and textures are beautiful and earthy and it seems to have a calming, grounding affect on many who visit and practice yoga in the spaces. The finished affect of American Clay shares similar properties to other natural building materials such as adobe, rammed earth, cob and straw bale… Read more »
What Makes Up a True no VOC Paint?
February 28, 2013
VOC is short for volatile organic compound; chemical liquids that evaporate at room temperature. Some examples of solvents used in low VOC or traditional paints are propylene glycol and paint thinner/turpentine. Traditional resins/binders (the stuff that sticks to the wall and binds the pigment) required chemical solvents to form a film as the paint dried…. Read more »