Eclectica Projects: A (re)Love Story

Re-imagining unloved furniture that you'll fall in love with all over again.

Welcome to Eclectica Projects; a York-based artistic workshop producing sustainably conscious, uniquely redesigned and restored furniture. Started in 2015, Eclectica Projects was born out of a passion for art and design and an obsession with collecting vintage paraphernalia. With a background in art studies at London’s Central St. Martin’s College of Art & Design, book design, music technology and songwriting, creativity has always been at the heart of everything I do, and I’ve chosen to realise this urge to ‘create’ via the medium of furniture re-finishing. 

After a career in the audio-visual industry, and with the love and support of my family, I was afforded the opportunity to nurture this business venture through its early stages. Setting up a workshop in the back garden of our family home has meant that Eclectica Projects has quickly grown into a way of life for me, with a clear mission statement; preserving the beauty and craftsmanship of vintage furniture, transforming it into unique centrepieces for a new generation and, in doing so, impact positively on the environment by re-directing it away from landfill.

If you’ve followed Eclectica Projects for any period of time, you’ll hopefully have come to the conclusion that the furniture I create is unique. I’m regularly asked questions such as, “How on earth did you think that up?” Or people sometimes exclaim, “I’ve never seen anything like it!” I love these reactions. It means I’m provoking a response, hopefully a jolt of joy when somebody sees my work. I enjoy the element of surprise, of not knowing what the next project will bring. Of always keeping people guessing.

Never being someone to follow the crowd, I purposely try and break with the notion of ‘tradition' and create an air of expectation of the next EP offering. The idea of my work blending into the countless other pieces of refinished furniture out there feels desperately unfulfilling.

But there is a line that I try not to cross. Pushing the envelope too much can result in ’shock’ designs whose express purpose is to divide opinion. Instead, I try and marry my designs to the provenance of each piece of furniture; drawing on styles or cultural reference points of the time. Success to me is sparking a connection with likeminded people, akin to the ’knowing nod' of acknowledgment that motorcyclists or Citröen 2CV drivers give each other when they pass on the road. If you know, you know.

Thanks for stopping by my site. Enjoy your stay, and don’t forget to sign-up to my newsletter to keep abreast of all the latest creations and developments here at Eclectica Projects!

Eclectically yours,