OLIVE

I thought I might write a little piece about Olive, the workshop dog. She’s a female black Labrador approaching 4 years old (I’m not quite sure what this is in dog years – I think it’s late youth).

Olive was always destined to be my workshop companion and, as such, she started work straight away as a fresh faced little puppy. She had an interesting apprenticeship:

   Learning to recognize different types of timber – by chewing them!
   Helping me to distress furniture – although not always at an appropriate moment.
   Applying paint in a most skilful way – well, dipping her tail in the pot and wagging it everywhere.
   And always bringing me her squeaky screwdriver when I needed the real one.

It was hard work but now she is a fully paid up Nest furniture restorer and has risen up through the ranks (well, past me) to become the official workshop napper (both pre and post lunch), the front-of-house meeter and greeter (nice visitors might be awarded some sort of manky toy) and, of course, the official taster of all and any foods imported into the workshop.

'I don't understand the difference between a philips head and a posi drive,

they all taste metally to me.'

Most importantly, though, she keeps me calm and de-stressed. She’s always watching out for me (even when apparently fast asleep and snoring) and is very good at getting me to leave work on time (afternoon walkies).

RANT (PURE & SIMPLE)

I seem to remember writing a small blog about haggling not so long ago. I suggested that, for example, if you went into Sainsbury’s and offered them a lower price, for cash, on a pack of sausages with the added incentive that you had a car and could take said pack of sausages away immediately, then the supermarket would not be very impressed and might, indeed, call security. Well, a certain customer should read that blog!

Of course, if you really don’t think the piece of furniture you so kindly made me such a generous offer on is worth that price, then head off to our competitors. It is a free market out there – we have been doing this over 8 years and I’m pretty sure we wouldn’t have survived so long by making up arbitrary prices to fund our collection of Ferraris.

How many supermarkets are out there?
How many charity shops are out there?
How many clothes shops are out there?
How many shops like ours are out there?
You see? There might not actually be that much profit in it, after all!

p.s. Kathryn added the lovely picture of another pretty new bench we’ve taken in to the shop to soften this entry, a little!

BEAUTIFUL BENCH...BRIEFLY

So, we finally got one of our amazingly beautiful Hungarian painted benches into Nest. I had worked out its position in the shop and how we would display it...but hadn’t factored in someone wanting to buy it as I unloaded it from the van! So, err...here is a picture of the bench on its way to its new home!

Well, we have another painted in pink which I will attempt to get into the shop when I’ve finished working on it. I may do this secretly, at night, to avoid pesky customers!

WHAT WE BUY, WHEN WE DON’T TAKE THE VAN...

Early last week we went off on a mini buying trip to try and get some interesting ‘fillers’. The sort of stuff that makes the shop fresh and exciting to visit, even if you don’t buy something (although it would be nice, if you did!).

A couple of weeks ago we sold a large ‘King Dick’ spanner which had come from a hardware store and had been used to advertise that range of spanners. This is the sort of stuff we love!

We ended up buying some beautiful large metal Tri-ang toys; a red train, a lorry and a very beaten up circus ‘cage’ truck. These will make a fantastic display. I’m not entirely sure why but a purchase of some very heavy cast iron wheels also took place – surely someone will need a very heavy, industrial door stop? Or perhaps something to stop a marquee blowing away in our balmy English summer...

Possibly the most exciting buy (for me) was the purchase of an eastern European wooden toy lorry and tractor. I can tell you now they won’t appear in the shop anytime soon because I’m taking them back to the workshop for inspiration. I have long thought of making a range of vehicles based on a sort of folk art theme. I have been collecting junk for ages to make them with so this may just push me into production... sometimes being able to make lovely stuff for the shop helps take the pressure off trying to find it!

HOMESTUFF WITH HISTORY

Last Thursday evening, I went up to Peterborough to the Key Theatre to see Maison Foo perform ‘memoirs of a biscuit tin’.

In short, it was a wonderful play about a decaying house looking for its owner (Mrs Benjamin). More specifically, it centred around the chimney, floor and walls all trying to piece together the life of Mrs Benjamin through the little mementoes they find in an old biscuit tin.

Very funny, very moving, a real treat and something that resonated strongly with me. I keep a scrapbook of ‘memories’ at the workshop. It is full of all the little abandoned moments of other peoples life’s that we find in the furniture we restore. These can range from weird 70s style wedding snaps and mad passport photos to medical prescriptions, love poems and shoe repair tickets. I even have an old black and white wedding photo in which the groom has been torn out. There is one photo of a glamorous looking woman in a beret – she looks like a chic member of the French resistance!

I hope that in a very small way we can keep the memories of the furniture’s previous owners alive! It certainly fits in with our company’s strap line: ‘homestuff with history’.

PONY PROBLEMS!

The new advert for Burwash Manor is out in Cambridge Editions. I say new, it’s a re-run from last year because due to bad weather and the time I’ve spent getting ready for the artists exhibition it’s been impossible to get a new one sorted! Anyway, I thought it might be interesting to write a little blogette about shooting the ‘pony ad’.

The pony is called Avocado and belongs to the farmer’s daughter. If you look carefully into Avocados eye you can perhaps detect a naughty little plan forming in that equine head. Literally a second after setting this shot she decided to kick all the paint tins over (sorry, Providence!) and try to eat the brushes. Later that evening, she actually jumped over the stable bar and escaped into the fields. Luckily she was later captured near the M11. To be honest, this is a fairly typical photoshoot for Burwash! I think Avocado probably resented having her stable redecorated (I think she’s more of a straw bales kind of a gal).

I would like to thank, very much, Jane (www.burwashdragonfly) who, prior to the shoot, gave Avocado a good old groom and managed her during the photoshoot. Without her, I’m almost certain that photographer Dan (www.mackandme.com) or myself would be sporting horseshoe shaped scars on our foreheads!

VINTAGE, VINTAGE, VINTAGE

Oh, that word – it’s everywhere – it’s like an annoying C-class celebrity who manages to spin out a career based purely on hype.

In our industry the word vintage simply means over 30 years old, while antique means over 100 years. It is simply a quick indication of age.

Several years ago, the word got picked up by the media and high street types and has been turned into something different. In the early days advertisers were very careful to present reproduction or new goods as ‘vintage style’ but now many seem to have dropped the ‘style’ bit!

I overheard a shopper in a certain retail outlet (one that sells wall-to-wall chintz on everything from mugs to towels to mobile phones to badges)  saying that she’d just bought a ‘lovely new vintage bag’!

Can you have a new vintage bag? Can you have a new antique bag? I think the way the word is being used now, the answer is probably yes!

Still, that’s the beauty of the English language, always changing and adapting to commercial pressure! I guess I will have to accept the looser definition of vintage and try not to get too irritated by competitors selling vintage accessories that were made 2 months ago in China. But, if you shop in Nest and you buy something vintage – rest assured it will be over 30 years old!

THE ARTISTS' MARQUEE

The Artists’ Marquee is now up at Burwash Manor, ready for the exhibition (sponsored by Nest!) that starts this weekend. As carpenter in charge of getting all the display boards up and into an interesting layout I knew it was going to be one, tiring job. I was right!

However, as I am also exhibiting on every weekend, it did give me the opportunity to add some little extras. Most important of these was a room to store all the cakes in that were promised at various meetings (I think that’s what Kathryn was talking about). In fact, my layout designs were centred around the cake room. I will be very disappointed if no cakes turn up (are you listening Heather? By the way, coffee and walnut is my favourite!).

Err, anyway, as well as cakes there will be some great new artists joining us this year to keep the event fresh and interesting and we’re holding a preview evening this Friday (6th July, 5-8pm) which will actually be the only opportunity to see all 15 of the artists all together. And to enter our posh raffle in aid of the Rosie. And to drink Pimms whilst listening to a very mellow jazz band....And eat cake.