Sacred Scraps is a collection of stories about where the resources for the stuff we use come from, the makers and the making process, and where stuff ends up.
Our documentaries fall into three story strands:
- Origins - portraits of raw materials, their creation and extraction, how they are used, and what happens at the end of their life.
- Maker Mob - profiles of the people behind the stuff, projects or products: miners, farmers, manufacturers, artists, creators, designers, restorers, recyclers, and innovators.
- Garbage Geeks and Waste Warriors - stories of the hidden world of waste and where our stuff goes. We explore the reuse culture, green-maker movement, industrial ecology principles, circular economies, and meet the people who have created enterprises recovering resources, reusing and recycling materials.
The makers
Sacred Scraps was devised and developed by producer, cross-media maker and storyteller, Mel Flanagan. Her fascination with the materials and the making process started age nine after a holiday spent changing cotton reels in a textile mill.
Back in the 80's Mel worked in arts and music marketing, before joining theatrical producer Cameron Mackintosh, working on the original Australian productions of Cats, Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera and Five Guys Named Mo.
Mel transitioned from theatre to film in London working on TV and feature films. On her return to Sydney she helped establish Fox Icon Productions and Working Title Films Australia (WTA) with producer Tim White. Films she worked on during this time include; Oscar & Lucinda, Two Hands, Gettin' Square and Ned Kelly. For the last 10 years she has worked in independent theatre, film, mobile TV, VFX, animation, interactive digital media, museum interpretation, installations, documentaries, web and software design and development. Over her many years working in production she has seen a lot of wasted resources and stopped a lot of useful stuff from ending up in landfill.
Having discovered her inner geek, Mel established her story, software and design company Nook Studios, which specialises in social impact and cultural projects, and making tools to help people share knowledge and resources.
Behind the scenes of Sacred Scraps Stories is a mob of passionate makers, designers, content creators and developers. We're collaborating with creative and cultural industries, resource recovery enterprises, and other partners to bring Sacred Scraps to life.
If you'd like to support what we do, have a great story to tell, or would like join our mob please, get in touch.