Prince William visits Restoration Station

– by Anya

Sometimes when selling an object, say a chair, you need a model. However beautiful the photograph of the chair (and goodness they are BEAUTIFUL), it's impossible to tell how it will measure up in real life: how tall the legs are, or how squishy the seat is. Cue Prince William.

Something pretty special happened at Restoration Station yesterday. While the furniture restoration social enterprise receives all types of design-hungry people through its doors, never before has royalty stepped into its workshop. That’s until now.

Yesterday, Prince William was taken on a tour of the projects led by the Spitalfields Crypt Trust (SCT), with Restoration Station being one of them. An east London-based charity, SCT has been supporting people in recovery from addiction for over 50 years. Restoration Station’s workshop manager Bernard Bristow gave the guided tour while Grace, a Hanbury Project trainee, told the Prince how the charity helped "start my life again".

William visited Restoration Station during the social enterprise’s London Design Festival collaboration with designer Yinka Ilori and, much to our delight was only too happy to try out some of the volunteers’ designs.

The Duke of Cambridge didn’t leave the workshop empty-handed. Restoration Station gave the future king three hand-crafted wooden owls, one for each of his children.

Want to find out more about Restoration Station’s collaboration with Yinka Ilori? Read our interview with Yinka here.

Fancy owning the very chair that Prince William perched himself on? You can bid for the chair here. Bidding is open until midnight on Tuesday 26 September.