We live in a consumerist society; it’s easier to buy than recover it half the time. But there are people, especially with family heirlooms, who want to have something preserved for future generations. There’s that market, but it’s always satisfying to take a unique piece and make it nice again. Something that would have been destined for the dump.
What is the benefit to restoring versus disposing and buying new?
Well definitely the heirloom pieces, the people who have had it for 50-plus years and they want to keep it in the family for another 50-plus years: that’s the upside. But it just depends on peoples’ budgets because we have our own overhead cost, and the cost of materials. During the pandemic, the cost has gone up exponentially. I went to put in an order for cushion foam, and the salesperson told me they’re going to be boosting prices so if I wanted to order more, I better do it before Friday. And, you know, if you’re going to just take something and haul it off to the dump versus getting some new fabric for it because that’s all it needs, that’s wasteful. I’m happy to talk with people and help them decide if it’s something they could fix on their own.
Is there a threshold for not being able to restore something?
We have taken on some pretty… I don’t know if “gross” is the right word. Items that come in that have pet urine smells or black mold or dust or fire damage, all sorts of stuff. Things get exposed to the elements and it’s not very often that we turn it away and say it’s not worth it; the main time we say it’s not fixable is if there’s wood rot in the frame. The wood will just crumble, and you may as well just get a new chair at that point rather than gluing it back together.
What are some interesting jobs you’ve taken on?
Just this past year I took in an upholster job from a woman. They were mid-century modern chairs that she had shipped from Germany that had belonged to her father. He passed away, and so she shipped them to Vancouver area and wanted them recovered. They were this interesting scooped-back-style chair. I’d never seen anything like them before. There are so many different styles of furniture. Sometimes designers will do just a one-off design and there it is out in the world.