Celebrating craftsmanship at the 2021 Revival | GRR
As the world’s biggest and most glamorous second-hand event, the Goodwood Revival is well known for celebrating the magic and romance of the past. Less widely recognised is that this passion for vintage style supports a thoroughly modern commitment to sustainability. How? By encouraging the continued use and reuse of items from the past that were made to last and to be cherished.
Here we meet five small businesses who exemplify this crossover of style and sustainability. You can find them all at this year’s Revival.
Dappr Aviation
Craftsmanship and sustainability are as central to Dappr Aviation as they are to the Goodwood Revival. “We all have a sense of artisan within us,” says Tiffany Hogg, a designer at the family-run business. “Each one with the skills to combine beautiful art pieces from recycled aircraft parts with natural hardwoods.”
Dappr Aviation’s distinctive homeware and furniture gives a new lease of life to almost every kind of decommissioned aircraft component. “We work with aviation companies all across England to help them recycle their old parts which are no longer able to be used in any form of flight,” explains Hogg. The company also uses locally sourced wood from within a few miles of their workshop, which helps to keep their carbon footprint down too.
A wide range of Dappr Aviation furniture pieces will be available at Revival including a polished BAE146 exhaust cowling drinks bar, upcycled airline trolleys and their exclusive food box tables. Homeware available will include mirrors, clocks and the popular belt buckle key racks.
Find Dappr Aviation in the Revival Market, stand 41.
London International Silver
Nicholas Santel of London International Silver has been in the antiques trade for over fifty years. He spent many years honing his expertise in the USA and is also a stalwart of the highly esteemed antiques market on Portobello Road. What keeps him coming back to exhibit at Revival? The vibe, he says: he loves the atmosphere, particularly with so many visitors coming in period dress.
The Revival is unique, as are the antiques sold by London International Silver. Items that would be largely obsolete in today’s world, for example, are transformed into pieces that are usable in modern life. “We take parasols, cutlery, things like that, and turn them into magnifying glasses,” explains Santel. “Letter openers, candle stoppers – and we also do a range of walking sticks as well. Giving the past a future is how we like to think of it.”
Find London International Silver in the Lavant Infield, stand 56.
The Looking Glass
“Surely we are the original sustainable business?” quips Lizzy Pollard, owner of The Looking Glass, a vintage clothing company based in Bridgnorth, Shropshire. “Our whole business is based on the premise of reusing old clothes that might otherwise be lost or disposed as waste. We find them, clean them, repair them and pass them on to new owners to love them. How sustainable is that?”
Pollard takes great pride and pleasure in finding and rescuing beautiful dresses. Online and in store, The Looking Glass range spans from the 1930s to the 1970s and, alongside dresses, includes women’s hats, capes and stoles as well as men’s clothing, caps and hats. For Revival, Pollard curates a collection of dresses that capture the halcyon days of the 1960s.
Find The Looking Glass in the Revival Market, stand 126.
Unseen Icons
Step into the Unseen Icons stand at Revival and you’ll get a glimpse into a world where beautiful Art Deco cinema seats mix with disco balls and neon signs. While there, browse the fabric books and sample wall to see the bespoke options available when you commission a restoration with them.
Some of the possibilities might be a surprise. “We totally reimagine the iconic cinema seat by using bold velvets that you wouldn't expect to see on these vintage seats,” says owner Kerry Rutter. “We're incredibly passionate about what we do and want people to own a statement piece of cinematic history that they will absolutely love for many years to come.”
Rutter also sees Unseen Icons as a sustainable choice: “We take the rusty, battered and unloved vintage cinema seats and totally refurbish them, so they can be cherished and used for many more years to come, reducing landfill and putting their beauty back in the spotlight.”
Find Unseen Icons in the Arcade D’Aubigny, stand 138.
Vintage Automobilia
Doug Palmer and his family have a passion for vintage vehicle memorabilia. Over the years, this has grown from a hobby to a full-time business, Vintage Automobilia, sourcing and restoring genuine vintage items including enamel signs, oil jugs and petrol pumps that go on to be sold to private collectors and museums around the world.
At Revival, Vintage Automobilia caters for everyone from the serious aficionado to the novice investor to those simply looking for a nostalgic or decorative item. “In 2019, we met a lady who fell in love with a 1920s enamel Shell sign,” says Palmer. “It was big, bold and yellow. She just saw it and wanted to put it in the hallway of her London apartment.”
Regardless of who the buyer is, every purchase from Vintage Automobilia is a form of sustainability in action, as an anecdote from Palmer highlights. “We did a garage clearance in Bristol where we were there literally hours before the developers took over the site and basically crushed it,” he recalls. “There were these fantastic old 1920s petrol pumps. They were all going to go into a metal skip to go off to be destroyed. Now they are in collections.”
To learn more about this year’s event, check out “10 things to see at this year’s Goodwood Revival”, while to secure your tickets, click here.