27th September 2017

Highlights: Restoration Station x Yinka Ilori

- by Anya

This September marked the first time that our beloved Restoration Station has staged a special project for London Design Festival. Boy was it good (even if we do say so ourselves)!

The project all started a few months ago when we introduced social enterprise Restoration Station with artist and designer Yinka Ilori. Through a series of hands-on workshops, led by Yinka, the volunteers set about restoring a collection of chairs in line with Yinka’s signature aesthetic. Throughout London Design Festival, Restoration Station’s workshop was transformed into a colour-saturated Aladdin's cave in which the 10 chairs took pride of place. All the chairs were sold via a silent online auction that ran throughout and ever so slightly beyond London Design Festival. The auction was a huge success and raised an almighty £2,520 for Restoration Station. The money will go straight back into funding the enterprise’s ongoing work with people in recovery.

There is so much joy and good that came out of the project that it’s impossible to mention it all. Here, however, are our absolute highlights.

A well deserved round of applause for the volunteers at Restoration Station

The Party

On 14 September, the results of the volunteers’ hard work were finally unveiled and celebrated with a party in Restoration Station’s workshop. The shop was packed and we’re pretty certain that not a single person left without a smile on their face. A big shout out to the lovely Pizza Pilgrims who provided everyone with hearty slabs of pizza and also Moju Drinks who kindly quenched everyone’s thirst with a vibrant assortment of fruity drinks.

HRH Prince William learning about Restoration Station

The Royal Seal of Approval

The 10 chairs created by Restoration Station volunteers were SO good that Prince William couldn’t resist a look. On 19 September the Duke of Cambridge was taken on a tour of a number of projects led by London-based charity the Spitalfields Crypt Trust, Restoration Station being one of them. The Prince was given the guided tour of the shop by workshop manager Bernard Bristow and even sampled several of the restored chairs.

The chairs are on their way to a new home

The Auction

Every single chair from the project has now found a home after they were sold via an online silent auction. The auction raised an amazing £2,520 for Restoration Station. The money will go straight back into funding the enterprise’s ongoing work with people in recovery.

Want to find out more about Restoration Station’s special project with Yinka Ilori? Watch our film about the project here.

Yinka Ilori testing colours in one of the workshops with volunteers at Restoration Station

With special thanks to collaborators;

Art direction Yinka Ilori
Photographer Dan Weill
Filmmakers Andy Dunn + Tim Dufort
Set design, fabrication and installation Simon Sawyer
Vinyl studio Dave Gibbons (Puck Studio) + Ioana Lupascu
Installation Alex Booker
Mural design + direction Julia Jomaa
Printing Hato Press
Party partners Pizza Pilgrims + MOJU Drinks
Signage Felix McCormack
Graphics assistance Anneka Lange
Event Partner London Design Festival
Chairs donated by Committee of Taste, Chase & Sorensen, Alex Cattell Upholstery and the general public.

Getting colourful at Restoration Station

The final chairs in all of their glory

Camille and Julia testing out some of the chairs at Restoration Station

HRH Prince William measuring a chair for size