FT House & Home – Architectural salvage: antidote to the age of bling

This weekend we were featured on the front page ofThe Financial Times Weekend, House & Home section. The editor of House & Home, Helen Barrett’slong-read article followsthe story of Retrouvius in the last 25 years and the increase in popularity the last couple of decades for using reclaimed materials.

“We were the antidote to the age of bling. Salvage is longevity and buying it is instant history.”

She highlights the breadth of waste from demolition sites in the UK, in the influx of large developments and construction, which has resulted in a huge amount of possible salvage stock from across multiple provenances.

The recent salvage hauls including from Cross Rail development in London, where a large amount of Edwardiandoors were saved just in time from the demolition of a West End university building. The Cumberbatch Building in Oxford was repurposed earlier this year to make way for a more contemporary development, as a result, there were exquisite quality teak doors, mid century Le Corbusian shelving units and brutalist architectural materials which were all saved.

Thanks to Helen Barrett of FT House and Home
Harry Crowder, photographer.

Retrouvius article in FT Weekend, House & Home was published on Saturday 23rd November.

READ MORE

Christmas Opening Times

The shop will close at 6pm on the 20th of December and re-open on the 6th of January. We’ll be completing some behind-the-scenes work in the interim, so please feel free to send…
Read More

RETROUVIUS Selected for the AD100 2025

We’re overjoyed to share that RETROUVIUS has been selected for the AD100 2025. A heartfelt thank you to ADGermany for recognising us among such an inspiring group of designers. It’s a profound honour…
Read More

Reuse Inspiration | Boot Rooms

Materials that work well both inside and outside are ideal – salvaged brick, fossil limestone and old malting tiles have all been put to reuse in our projects over the years.
Read More
Menu