The Lost and Found Office: giving furniture a new lease on life

Posted on 26 August, 2014

If you were in Braddon last weekend, you might have noticed some cool furniture hanging out on the pavement in Lonsdale Street.  Something Scandinavian with a geometric fabric feature, perhaps, or a 1950s armchair revamped in riotous fluoro florals.  These pieces are the creations of The Lost and Found Office, aka Bobby Cerini and Ben Chapman, a jack-of-all-trades duo who refurbish vintage furniture and lamps in some of the most glorious upholstery fabrics Canberra has ever seen.

With a focus on sustainability and recycling, the pair collaborate with local artists and designers to create original textiles, as well as utilising vintage fabrics and classic designs from the likes of Marimekko and Florence Broadhurst.

“We rescue something that is intrinsically of value; either it’s a well-crafted, interestingly shaped object that’s going into landfill or it’s something that someone already has a connection with,” Ben tells me, as we perch on a collection of forlorn pre-re-vamp furniture at the couple’s new workshop in Queanbeyan.  “We’re not really into classic restoration.  We like to go a bit further with it.”

Partners in romance as well as in business, Bobby and Ben established The Lost and Found Office in 2013, after some serious health problems and the death of a close friend led them to reconsider their way of life.  A stall at the Old Bus Depot Markets and a spot at the Queanbeyan Artists Shed quickly led to the retail space in Lonsdale Street and the launch of their ‘Journeys’ collection, a vivid compilation of travel photos transformed into textiles.

As well as The Lost and Found Office, Ben and Bobby are closely involved with the further re-imagining of Benedict House, the nineteenth century Queanbeyan boarding school building which will soon become a hub for the arts, with a curated gallery space, a quirky café and a venue for live music, public lectures and creative workshops.  The couple are also creating a film documentary about the Artists Shed and Bobby is working on her PhD.  Oh, and did I mention they both have day jobs too?

“Our life has changed so much, it’s unbelievable,” Bobby says about starting the business.

“[For others] time gets consumed by watching TV and drinking wine; it’s fun, and your whole night can just go.  After work I’m going home to spend another three hours upholstering, or phoning people up, or writing a business plan, or designing something for the shed.”  When I ask where they find the energy, Ben responds simply: “I don’t want to wait til I retire to do the things I really want to do.”

The Lost and Found Office also has a focus on personalised styling and customer service, something both Bobby and Ben agree has been lost in the scramble of mass production.

“We’re actually interested in you,” Bobby says.  “The more we know about you, the more we understand what’s going to work and how you live.  We will go to your house, if you’re busy during the day we’ll take fabric samples to you in the evening, we’ll sit around and have a cup of tea and talk about what you might like.  We lead with our sense of comfort, and fun, and personality.”

“Initially I was quite conservative about the things I made,” Ben confesses, “[But now I think] if he likes an industrial subway sign on his couch, and she likes a beautiful Florence Broadhurst chair, let them have them both.  What we’ve tried to do with the Braddon shop is to show that kind of mismatch to some degree, because that’s actually how people live.”

Photo by Howie Tien for Fat Pigeon Photography

In talking to Ben and Bobby I can’t help but be infected by their extraordinary energy and vitality.  It seems they’ve transformed their own lives as they would a piece of furniture, from the plodding nine-to-five work cycle into a carnival of prints and colours and ideas; taking the good bits, leaving behind the bad, and ending up with something completely different which is wonderful in its eccentricity.

“One day you find yourself sleeping in your workshop and there’s a Johnny Cash tribute band rehearsing, and all of a sudden you find your life is not this comfortable thing,” Ben says. “It’s quite an uncomfortable thing; but it’s much more stimulating.”

the essentials

What: The Lost and Found Office
Where: Shop – Level 1, unit 5 of 25 Lonsdale St, Braddon
Showroom – Curators of Benedict House 39 Isabella St, Queanbeyan
Workshop: Cottage at the rear of Benedict House 39 Isabella St, Queanbeyan.
Studio – The Artists Shed, 1 Thorpe Avenue, Queanbeyan, NSW 2620 Australia
Phone: 0402 586 366 (Ben) or 0415 032 701 (Bobby)
Email: lostnfoundoffice@gmail.com
Facebook: facebook.com/TheLostAndFoundOffice
Web:  lostandfoundoffice.wordpress.com