Set up by the Spitalfields Crypt Trust, Restoration Station is a non-profit social initiative that uses design and making as a tool to help people recover from addiction and re-engage with the world of creative work. Participants in the programme are trained in woodworking and the restoration of vintage furniture – much of it donated – at the enterprise’s studio at the New Hanbury Project, where they also receive specialist instruction from local craftspeople. Every Thursday and Friday, Restoration Station’s workshop on Shoreditch High Street opens to sell beautifully restored 20th-century pieces – including antique furniture, tools, ceramics and toys. The workshop is also available for commission – Restoration Station’s work can already be found in cafés, restaurants and shops throughout the local area.
Image Credits: Veerle Evens
WHAT WE DO FOR RESTORATION STATION
Zetteler PR manager Jodi Moss lent her considerable marketing acumen to Restoration Station on a voluntary basis before she joined us, and we were blown away by the enterprise’s aims and vision, as well as the real difference it can make in people’s lives. We’re delighted to do whatever we can to raise this amazing organisation’s profile, whether that’s through giving publicity guidance, building connections with designers and craftspeople, or just yabbering on Restoration Station to everyone we come across.
sct.org.uk/restoration-station
London Design Festival 2017 marked a collaboration between Restoration Station and designer Yinka Ilori. The Shoreditch-based initiative runs workshops for people in recovery, teaching them skills in woodwork and furniture restoration, the results being sold to fund its ongoing programme. This special London Design Festival project saw Ilori hold a series of hands-on workshops with Restoration Station volunteers, each participant restoring a chair according to Ilori’s unmistakable aesthetic of bold Nigerian prints and vivid colours.
This film takes you behind the scenes of the collaboration, hearing about both the workshop and the social initiative from those who know it best.
Companies
London Design Festival
- Design