“Would you be interested in buying a Pugin chapel?” It’s not often you get a phone call from someone with that enquiry. But for Travers Nettleton of outdoor antiques business Garden Art Plus, the thrill of the unexpected find is one of the main pleasures of his job. Salvaged and reclaimed items have always been popular with interior designers, but they're also becoming more popular with the rest of us, and for good reason. Not only do they bring texture, character and patina to any room, but you also have the pleasure of saving and giving new life to a piece of history.
Travers recalls his excitement at how well preserved the chapel was. “We had every piece of the chapel. It even had all the carvings within the chapel, the parquet oak flooring, and the stained glass windows. It took us many, many lorry loads to bring it back to our yard, and there it sat, waiting for someone to come in and say, ‘I need a chapel.’ But eventually a gentleman came in, and I explained to him I had a Pugin chapel. He got very excited, and he decided to buy it. He’s now erected it in his grounds. So, the chapel lives again!”
Maria Speake, who has done more than anyone to promote salvage through her interior design practice and salvage business Retrouvius, speaks of starting her career “literally saving stuff," rescuing whatever she could find being thrown out–doors, door handles, tiles, even fireplaces. In this way she started to cultivate a deep appreciation for reclaimed items and understand the importance in preserving the narratives they add to a building. “Buildings are functional, but they’re also meant to lift the spirit and enlighten,” she said. “They keep the rain off but they’re also meant to be nourishing and nurturing in different ways. Using salvage is a way of being nurturing. Something that looked like rubbish is now centre stage.” For Maria, architecture and interior design tell stories. “That’s how we learn–through storytelling!” Salvage carries on a story worth telling, “whether it's through the verbal passing on of information or through respectful showcasing of the item.”
This love of stories, of history, and of rescuing beautiful things, is one very good reason to appreciate the art of salvage. Another, and an increasingly important one, is its sustainable credentials. As Travers' partner and co-owner Katie Nettleton says, “It’s green. You’re finding an item and then finding a home for it with no production line. It’s providing a sense of style, character, and class without any waste,” Katie said, adding how she wished more people got involved.
Before diving into a skip bin, it might be helpful to understand the difference between the two terms. If it’s salvaged, it’s been saved–quite possibly straight out of a bin. These are often pieces seen at demolition sites being ripped out of a house. If it’s reclaimed, it’s been restored–a salvaged item that’s been brought back to life with, say, a lick of paint or some sanding. It’s an exciting practice with room for everyone, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t come with challenges.
For those hoping to get started in salvaging, both Katie and Travers agree it’s all about trusting your eye. But, doing a bit of research couldn’t hurt, either. It helps to narrow things down to a particular era or aesthetic. From there, finding a trustworthy source is key. “There are no hard and fast tricks,” Travers stated matter-of-factly, but was quick to underscore the selling point history plays in salvaged items. “Always ask where it came from. Obtain as much historical information as you can. Understanding an item’s provenance serves not only to better educate and excite the current buyer, but it can help to sell the piece onto the next buyer.”
George Amos of renowned salvage yard LASSCO agrees that it's all about developing a good eye, and adds that the process has never been easier. “There are so many opportunities these days,” he says. Aside from visiting fairs and yards, George is an advocate of websites like eBay and Gumtree. “Now’s a great time to get into salvaging–everything’s on the internet. You don't have to look that far to find something special.” Some of his best finds came from digital digging. A few years ago, after spotting a grainy, but promising image online, George drove out to discover hundreds of Marcel Breuer cantilever chairs–previously from an old community hall–now hauled up in an old barn. He bought them in a heartbeat.
Before Archie Mackie would go on to run the reclaimed interiors studio Original House, he started off as a runner for LASSCO. “Being a country kid from Cornwall, I had to learn fast,” he said. He recalled salvaging “everything” from the largest Victorian mental asylum in England as “proper salvaging.” Everything was up for grabs– “from the cast iron radiators, hundreds of basins and taps, mountains of pine flooring right down to the mortuaries, which were lined with reusable tiles. We even salvaged the oak head blocks, skipping on the actual slabs.”
For beginners, however, Archie recommends terracotta pots. “These look great in a contemporary interior, adding a splash of character. These are great for house plants and can also stand alone filling awkward interior spaces.” Be sure to examine for any defects. Rap your knuckles against the terracotta and listen for a clean ringing sound. If it sounds like a thud instead of a bell, it’s not in good condition."
Logistics aside, George warned of another amateur's mistake: buying items that don’t fit with the interior, either because of layout or design. “If it’s too big [for the room], it won’t work, no matter how nice it is.” He suggested beginners work with floorboards to make shelves. It can be tempting to start with large and extravagant pieces, but it’s much easier said than done. He recalls an instance when a wealthy American customer, soon to inherit a big retail outlet in Los Angeles, came into his shop looking for marble colonnades. The first challenge was in finding a way to package and freight over the “massive” marble columns. After they arrived in Los Angeles, George got a phone call from the buyer complaining she had no way of transporting them to her property, prompting the enquiry, “We need a forklift, can you send us one from London?” Liking an item is one thing, but being able to transport it is another. “Measure things. Scale is important. If you can’t get it through the door, there’s no point in picking it up.”
Doing salvage well is also a question of respecting the fabric of the house. Patrick Williams has been running the architectural and interior design practice, Berdoulat, for 17 years. His approach hasn’t changed with time, and that is treating the building as the client first and foremost. He is careful to only introduce materials or designs that “are better for the building and make sense to use.” As he explains, historic pieces shouldn't be jammed into a composition just for the sake of using reclaimed materials. He shudders at the memory of a lift using reclaimed floorboards as panelling. “For me, that’s like a drumstick-shaped bit of tofu. Why bother? Why not be honest about the fact that it’s a lift and make something new?” Items, whether off a shelf or salvaged from a bin, “should always feel totally at one with the host building.”
Precisely for this reason, Patrick was determined to “right a wrong” he came across while working on a house in London. Built in the 1870s, this house in particular stuck out against the others on the street with its “plastic windows and a nasty plastic door.” Patrick decided he could not rest until he had found an original door to match the rest of the street, which he eventually did. “I was so chuffed, but the very next week the council, who owned the rest of the houses on the street, ripped out all the other original doors and changed them to these same revolting new plastic doors, and that was really soul destroying. But that is a cool story,” he laughed.
Maria wonders whether design trends make people “too keen on the idea of creating.” She thinks back to when she was “literally saving stuff” after they had been thrown out. “Why would you throw away something that exists? Everything’s a cycle, and you have to deal with a byproduct.” Trends can cycle through items so quickly that in a few months people ask themselves, "What am I going to do with all this?” The result usually involves the garbage can. “This is where artists and creatives have got to come up with ideas of how do you make something relevant again? It is a bit of hard work but it can feel so much more rewarding. We each just have to do our little bit and really hope!”
