10th November 2016

New client: Restoration Station

- by Milly Burroughs

Shoreditch is an area that has become synonymous with a dramatic wave of gentrification in East London, but what you might not have noticed is that wedged somewhere between Ace Hotel and a string of high-end boutiques is Zetteler’s latest client, Restoration Station. Bringing social responsibility to the heart of an area blighted by blinkered capitalism, Restoration Station is a not-for-profit social enterprise run by addiction recovery charity Spitalfields Crypt Trust.

The art and design community is truly a thing of beauty, and we revel in every second we get to work with talented creatives and innovators who challenge us to view the world from different perspectives and motivate us to find news ways of incubating positive change. Restoration Station embodies everything we feel most strongly about. Boasting a business model that is environmentally, socially and financially sustainable, the business gives volunteers - people recovering from addiction or homelessness - the opportunity to restore vintage and second-hand furniture that is then sold on to both private and commercial clients.

Volunteers are provided with comprehensive woodwork and furniture restoration training at SCT’s New Hanbury Project, with further specialist training coming from local craftspeople. Aside from developing valuable practical skills that encourage self-worth and become the catalyst for successful long-term recovery, time spent volunteering in the Restoration Station workshop replaces time spent alone or with few constructive distractions.

Our work with Restoration Station will see us supporting their inspiring work and promoting the high-quality and beautifully restored furniture they sell. Our new relationship with Restoration Station follows the joyous appointment of Jodi Moss as Zetteler’s PR Manager. During Jodi’s time at SCP’s Shoreditch home, she and Lucy James (who you can read all about here) coordinated the Shoreditch Design Triangle. Part of this role involved recruiting businesses and organisations from the area to get involved, including Restoration Station.

“We met Rhys and Sheona and knew instantly that we wanted Restoration Station on the bill. When I left SCP I went freelance and I dropped Sheona and Rhys an e-mail asking if I could help out - cleaning toilets, helping in the shop, or whatever they needed. It turned out that they wanted to have a first birthday party to celebrate a year in business, so they asked if I could help with the logistics and comms for that. I helped them with the event planning and contacting press and inviting design influencers down to the event. It was a hit!” says Jodi.

Jump forward a year and half and we were lucky enough have Jodi join the Zetteler team. Having had our eyes opened to the unbelievably valuable work being done by Restoration Station, we are incredibly excited to work with them and look forward to working with Rhys and Sheona.

Speaking on the people she met while working with the organisation, Jodi says, “Rhys and Sheona are incredible! Rhys is the Manager at Restoration Station and Sheona is the Training and Development Manager at Shoreditch Crypt Trust. They work so hard with NO budgets to make Restoration Station and everything else that takes place at SCT run. They are super humans. I also met the trainees at the time and Bernard who runs the workshop. He’s always keen for a chat about what he’s working on at that moment.”

Learn more about Restoration Station’s brilliant work on their website and get to know them as part of this year’s Shoreditch Christmas Triangle.