Hi, my name is Charis williams, otherwise known as The Salvage Sister!

I am an artist, designer & maker – specialising in the reuse of salvaged materials, I also love to upcycle, woodwork & metalwork. I can weld, forge & make all kinds of things. 

But where did it all start? 

Well, as we continue this talk it will become apparent that I like to go around the houses & do things the really hard way!!

I’m still kinda working out who I am & where I want to be, which is odd for a lot of people given that I’m 41 now! Most people have their lives worked out by then, but what can I say, I’m a late bloomer. 

One thing that I’ve always been sure of though, is my epic drive to be creative, to draw, paint, build & make. When I’m not doing this –  life has a cavernous, empty, depressing feeling to it. 

I like to work with my hands, be active, learn new skills & figure things out. 

 I hate admin and I’m not good at maths unless it’s a 3D object I’m working out!  – I can’t stand sitting in a chair all day, being static & not moving around. My worst nightmare would be to sit in an office & do the same thing every single day.

However I haven’t always been as confident as I am now, in fact that is the understatement of the year!! 

I was crippled with shyness until my mid twenties! I would literally come out in a sweat, shake & want to burst into tears at the thought of going in a shop to buy something, or getting on a bus on my own. 

It meant that I would walk 5 miles of backstreets rather than getting on a bus, and I would go without food or water no matter how painful it was rather than going in a shop. 

My fear was of talking to people, them looking at me & me saying something stupid or dropping something. 

Like the embarrassment would eat me alive. I recently found out that this is anxiety. 

We hear it a lot these days, but back then I was a freak. I thought I was the only one.

As you can imagine this was incredibly annoying for anyone around me who couldn’t understand why I couldn’t do these things. 

Because I had this self doubt, lack of confidence & anxiety I felt I would never be able to do the things I wanted to, it held me back – OR rather I held me back from doing the things I loved, the things I should have studied or tried as a child & teenager.

It meant than when someone told me I couldn’t do something – I believed them.  

This cost me so much time & heartache. 

When I was leaving school I went to see the careers advisor, I took all my artwork including sketches and paintings & told him I wanted to be an artist. I had really excelled with art all the way through school & had even swopped & sold my art to other students.

Rather than telling me to study graphic design, or architecture, or media studies, or any of the other creative subjects that could lead to an economically viable & exciting career – guess what he told me? 

He said “why do you want to be an artist?! They never make any money, it’s a waste of time – look at Van Gogh, he never made any money until he was dead & he went so mad trying that he cut off his own ear! Why don’t you get a nice little office job where you’ll have job security & earn money?”

I left that office absolutely crushed, with my head hung low & my artwork under my arm – untouched & unseen by the careers advisor may I add!

I remember thinking there is no place in this world for me, I’m an outcast, I can’t talk to people, I can’t even get on a bus on my own, let alone go to art college alone. The one thing that I’m good at is a complete & utter waste of time.

When I got home – my mum confirmed this, wanting what she thought was best for me and said “maybe he’s right, you would get sick pay, a pension etc, I used to work in an office”.

But I didn’t care about any of those things, none of it mattered to me. 

Although due to my complete lack of confidence I did what they said. I got the most boring office job known to mankind – data input at Lloyd’s bank office ,behind the scenes. 

Writing off debts & actioning arrears letters straight out of school. I hated it so much  & I cried every Monday for 5 years. 

I had more time off than a colleague with cancer on the same team,  & was usually in trouble for something like making rude statues out of blue-tac, which has hair that I chopped off my own, or flinging t-bags around the office, and coming back from lunch half cut.… Again. 

It was a truly miserable experience, only made slightly bearable by the friends I made in the office who, like me hated their existence – we are still friends today. 

Now, without spoiling the story too much – I am here in front of you today – so something must have changed!

Stay tuned to find out more, find my weekly ‘Origin Story’ and LIVE Q&A’s on Instagram 

And watch me talk about it here on Youtube : https://youtu.be/Di2aVWXdvKY