Woodworker Stacey Marple has found a way to draw aesthetics and utility out of items many people would classify as scrap.

“I do like stuff that’s been discarded,” she said with a smile. “And then repurposing it — it definitely is about the design process more than anything.”

Marple enjoys making trays, tables and decorative boxes out of discarded wood and industrial pieces, striking a balance between usefulness and art. Her pieces were featured at the Cottage Grove Chamber of Commerce during February’s Art Walk on Feb. 25.

“The woodworking process is fun and entertaining. And I have a lot of support around that with friends and my spouse and so forth,” she said. “But definitely, it’s about the design more than it is the construction for me.”

Some pieces look ready to be mounted as floating shelves on a wall, others as plant holders on a window sill. Marple is content with some of them just as decorations, too.

“Being able to forge together wood and metal to make something really elegant is always fun — elegant but with utility,” she said, adding that it’s about “making sure there’s balance in the pieces. And even when you make a mistake, it’s really fun to then find a solution to that mistake. Some of these have a lot of mistakes within them, but you wouldn’t know.”