ex-Big Issue vendor Steve Wyatt and TV presenter Jay Blades have an eight-year friendship fostered through a love of furniture restoration. Image: The Dolphin, Poole
When the shop next door became open, Wyatt leapt at the chance to collaborate with Blades and the pair held a grand opening on Monday to a crowd of more than 100 people.
“It was the proudest day of my life,” Wyatt told The Big Issue. “I just want to embrace it and move forward.
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The new store will feature furniture restored by Wyatt and Blades using sustainable materials. Image: The Dolphin, Poole
“It’s been a great journey with Jay watching each other progress and now this opportunity has come and I think it has come at the right time really.”
Wyatt, 45, used to sell The Big Issue at Pero’s Bridge in Bristol for three years as he battled addiction.
After leaving rehab for the last time a decade ago, he set up a social enterprise called Transfurniture to help people in recovery from drug addiction by allowing them to work on restoring furniture.
It was a passion that Wyatt’s addiction had prevented him from pursuing and he previously told The Big Issue: “Furniture, no doubt in my mind, has saved my life.”
His renewed passion led to him contacting Blades and the pair met for the first time at his Wolverhampton studio eight years ago.
Since then, Blades has been offering what he calls “low-level mentoring” to Wyatt and the two collaborated last year when Restored Retro became the first stockists of Jay & Co’s restored furniture.
The new Jay & Co store is located next door to Wyatt’s own Restored Retro furniture shop. Image: The Dolphin, Poole
Now their partnership has moved a step further with the new shop which features a collection of exclusive furniture pieces crafted out of sustainable materials.
Blades and Wyatt also have new projects in the pipeline with their unlikely collaboration set to expand in the future.
“Restored Retro was our first stockist, we started selling our products through Steve’s shop nearly two years ago, and it has not only been fruitful for both parties, we have become good friends. Our business values are aligned and it is the right fit for us,” said Blades.
“What I admire about Steve is the eye because when you’re selling furniture you’re putting something into someone’s house which is very personal to them but the majority of the time you don’t know that person.
Restoring furniture has a restorative impact on both Blades and Wyatt too. Image: The Dolphin, Poole
“You’re putting your personality into the furniture and that’s what I admire about Steve in the sense that he’s done something that is really pure in putting his slant on it. That’s a really hard thing to do, a lot of people think it’s easy. So what I admire is that Steve’s been able to do it from really, really humble beginnings.”
This Christmas, 3.8 million people across the UK will be facing extreme poverty. Thousands of those struggling will turn to selling the Big Issue as a vital source of income - they need your support to earn and lift themselves out of poverty.
