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Furniture Restorer

Established Member
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Joined
9 Jan 2024
Messages
23
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Location
London
Hi everyone. About me...
As it says. I'm a furniture restorer based in North London. I'm coming up to retirement after nearly 45 years of repairing and French polishing various antique and modern items. The retirement plan is to ease up on the work, downsize, and start teaching, and passing on some of the skills I've picked up over the years. I have a few items that I'll be selling when I've built up my posting credit on the site.

And hopefully, chip in with some useful posts on the subject of repairing and finishing furniture.

Tony.
 
Hi,

I'm thinking of focusing on the basics. Dealing with scratches, dents, ring marks, etc... A fair proportion of jobs I've got over the years is from people who went on to the internet and had a go themselves. I do offer my customers the choice of repairing their furniture under supervision (mostly mid-century) if they express an interest. That's been quite popular. So I might expand the idea.
 
Hi and welcome to our insanatorium 🤣
Tips on finishing always welcome 👍
 
Welcome Tony, I am a retired furniture restorer/cabinet maker. So will be happy to compare notes!
When I first qualified at West Dean College,(1978,career change) I taught evening classes three nights a week at local schools to boost income. Sadly schools no longer have workshops they only cut up bits of paper and call it design and technology (or some such).
 
Thanks for the welcome everyone.

Hi XTiffy.
Similar story here. I started as a mechanical and electrical engineer after leaving school in 1976. Around 1980, I switched from working with metal and wires to wood. A friend with a pine-stripping business took me on while I figured out my next steps. The appeal of working with wood grew on me, and I landed a job in a busy restoration workshop in Islington, North London, during the boom in antique furniture in the early '80s. Starting at the bottom, doing various tasks, I gradually worked my way up through the ranks and eventually started my own venture in the mid to late '90s.

Every summer, we received CVs from graduates of West Dean and the London College of Furniture. The business owner always made a point of trialling at least one. Some went on to be competent restorers, their initial months were a bit of a transition (more like shock therapy) from theory and contemplation to get it done.

The insufficient focus on woodwork and metalwork in schools is a topic that you do not want to get me started on. Some of my clients, retired headmasters, share my opinion about the current state of education in these subjects. These days, many course instructors have simply come top-of-the-class as students who then get promoted to teachers. The lack of properly funded and staffed courses is a bit of a mystery as interest is as high as it's ever been. The only thing that's changed is that they call it 'up cycling' or 'mindfullness' these days
 
Welcome to the nuthouse Tony. With who did you start with in Islington? When I left the army in 1985 I worked there for antiques dealer in his workshop with an ancient french polisher name of Bill. Next door were 2 brothers dealing and restoring antiques with their dad supervising the reupholstery. Since then I worked all over the place repolishing modern and antique furniture.
Be glad to swap tales.

Karl
 
Hi Karl, He was based in Theberton Street. Off Upper Street. I moved around a bit as well.

Camden Passage, The Angel and and Essex Road was a hive of activity back then. It was buzzing on market days (Saturdays and Wednesdays). We probably worked for all the same antique dealers that were around back then. A lot of dealers had their own restoration departments as well.

Edit to add: I see form your website you hail from the old country. My parents were from Kilkenny and Durrow. I'm a plastic.
I still have plenty of family connections around County Laois and Kilkenny.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the welcome everyone.

Hi XTiffy.
Similar story here. I started as a mechanical and electrical engineer after leaving school in 1976. Around 1980, I switched from working with metal and wires to wood. A friend with a pine-stripping business took me on while I figured out my next steps. The appeal of working with wood grew on me, and I landed a job in a busy restoration workshop in Islington, North London, during the boom in antique furniture in the early '80s. Starting at the bottom, doing various tasks, I gradually worked my way up through the ranks and eventually started my own venture in the mid to late '90s.

Every summer, we received CVs from graduates of West Dean and the London College of Furniture. The business owner always made a point of trialling at least one. Some went on to be competent restorers, their initial months were a bit of a transition (more like shock therapy) from theory and contemplation to get it done.

The insufficient focus on woodwork and metalwork in schools is a topic that you do not want to get me started on. Some of my clients, retired headmasters, share my opinion about the current state of education in these subjects. These days, many course instructors have simply come top-of-the-class as students who then get promoted to teachers. The lack of properly funded and staffed courses is a bit of a mystery as interest is as high as it's ever been. The only thing that's changed is that they call it 'up cycling' or 'mindfullness' these days
I have a slightly different take on this.
Retrained as a furnituremaker about 5 years ago, in a great local college. Class sizes were small, about 10-12 per year group. They were not turning people away. Over the way was the site carpentry group, class sizes around 30.
I was lucky enough to get on to an apprenticeship programme, which is almost unheard of for someone older than 19 or so ( basically first year they must pay you £4 per hr, but second year onwards you have to be paid at the appropriate minimum wage for your age..)
Jobs in cabinetmaking advertised here in West Sussex if I average the wage vs experience required seem to be mainly asking for 5 years full time industry experience, with many topping out at £25-£27k per annum. There aren’t that many places to find these jobs either. Starting wages are either minimum wage, or perilously close to minimum wage.
Fine furniture and cabinetmaking is kind of lumped in with the manufacturing industry, and is an incredibly difficult landscape to make a living in.
Apprenticeships are still, in my humble opinion the best option for trained individuals to work for 99% of cabinetmaking firms. “Full time” college students are taught for 2 days a week, and almost always don’t also have a job in industry the rest of the time, whereas apprentices are hands on in a working environment the rest of the time, and often learning the nuts as bolts of everything. Obviously a slightly different setup at west dean and indeed places like waters and ackland where students will attend a truly intensive programme of study, but the environment and projects they work on both at college and at other training providers must be considered. West dean for example, whilst admittedly learning all the skills to do so, they might make 2 or three proper pieces of (hopefully) very fine furniture in a year, working full time. So obviously have the skill to do so, but turning this into a profitable employee is different.
I do think companies have a significant role to play in this decline, apprenticeships are now very scarce. I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect someone to pay entirely for their own education, then be fully and perfectly qualified for my individual business needs, whilst also (admittedly sector wide !) offering low wages.
If as a business I offer apprenticeships, I get to mould candidates as I need them, and expose them to a real working environment from day 1.
I don’t think at a government level money is being pumped into training in furnituremaking, because the broad thinking is that in a few years somehow robots or ai will have it sewn up..
another way of looking at it is, if there are less classes, and still as much general interest in the community for people to attend these classes, why aren’t the existing classes over subscribed and difficult to get a place on ?
 
Hello Sam,
Though I am 76 and retired, I attended West Dean College full time for one year 1977/78, the Antique Furniture Restoration course.
I have lived in this corner of West Sussex since 1972 (Drafted to RN Unit at RAF Tangmere; the Navy unit stayed on until 1977, when I left the RN and then onto West Dean). I now live near Chichester in Barnham. I will be clearing much of my accumulated cabinet making and polishing materials. All packed in my barn but given better weather I will be sorting it out!
 
Ah small world !
I was retrained at Chichester college and my first lecturer was Christian Nottley who is also a notable west dean allum.
Incidentally - I am now lecturing and working for brinsbury college (after a short stint in industry working for some great local makers) so if there is anything useful you would consider donating to the college I would try and make that convenient for you and could come and view and collect (materials, tools etc..)
Cheeky to ask a stranger for handouts, and obviously if you intend to list and sell everything I more than understand that too !
If you were interested in that please send me a private message and I can send you my phone number :)
 
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