Originate Natural Building Materials

Originate is hands down one of our favorite and most frequented shops in Tucson, particularly as we've been restoring our adobe home. We've gotten lime paints, lime stucco, plasters (Tadelakt), reclaimed wood, old light fixtures, artisan pool pavers, natural sealers, etc here. Incredibly grateful to have these resources locally! We have learned so much through Natasha, the owner, throughout the years of coming here. She's a wealth of knowledge on natural building practices and materials as well as a special part of this community. Thank you Natasha!!

Echoing what others have stated. Great selection and wonderful presentation. Employees are kind and helpful. Owner is simply toxic. Within 30 seconds of walking in, the owner was berating a FedEx employee….for something not delivered by someone else working the route previously. If that wasn’t bad enough, 10 minutes later she is rudely denigrating a young employee for some error…IN FRONT OF CUSTOMERS. We walked out. We will never walk in again. Life is too short.

There is a theme for this place. Good prices, good supplies, great employees and a rude owner. Based on how I was treated and also how the young employee was treated while I was there, I’ll never shop here again and tell all my friends to avoid it. That woman is nasty.

It takes a lot for me to write a bad review about a place. Operating a business of any type is difficult enough, so giving low-star ratings to small businesses is not something I take pride in or enjoy doing. The store itself is not the problem; I have enjoyed shopping at Originate, and have always found unique materials that you can’t buy at larger retail stores. Prices are good, and the young lady who works there has helped me every time, and has always been so nice and great at her job. My experience with the owner, however, is such a contrast to everything I have stated in my previous words about the store. Being ignored, not greeted or acknowledged… perhaps these actions are considered rude, I can live with that, and don’t really care to be honest. But being rude and completely

Staff was nice and had great prices in the pavers I got from them. Some reclaimed items definitely will only fit niche uses, but there are some good items here.