Welcome to the Repair Shop
where cherished family heirlooms are brought back to life.
Anything could happen. This is the workshop of dreams.
Home to furniture restorer Jay Blades.
Nowadays, things are not built to last,
so we've become part of this throwaway culture.
It's all about preserving and restoring.
We bring the old back to new.
Working alongside Jay will be some of the country's leading craftspeople.
I like making things with my hands.
I love to see how things work and I want to know how things work.
Whether it's a Rembrandt or somebody's family piece,
every painting deserves the same.
Each bringing their own unique set of skills.
You're about to witness some magic.
They will resurrect...
- ..revive... - Oh, yes!
..and rejuvenate...
..treasured possessions
and irreplaceable pieces of family history.
Oh, my goodness me, it looks like it's new!
Bringing both the objects...
SHE GASPS
Oh, wow!
..and the memories that they hold back to life.
Oh, thank you!
In the Repair Shop today...
Bosh, bish, bash.
..furniture's Batman and Robin - Jay and Will - pull some heroic moves
to rescue a 100-year-old chair.
Wow, that's impressive.
- Where there's a Will, there's a way! - There's a way!
THEY LAUGH
While Guillaume Pons,
a specialist ceramics conservator,
works on a stunning mother-of-pearl peace.
First customers of the day are Scott Ferguson and Diana Colleran,
here to see the Repair Shop's resident ceramics restorer, Kirsten Ramsay.
- Hello. - Hello. - How we doing? - Good, thank you very much, very well.
OK, so what have we got here?
A majolica stick stand formed as a bulldog.
It's a bulldog?
Yes. Poor Sweet Pea, I think he's missing a bit of tail.
So you call him Sweet Pea?
- He's called Sweet Pea? - He is, look.
Ah, bless!
He was already christened that, yes.
- Looks a bit Frankenstein now, doesn't he? - He does.
At least all the pieces are there.
It looks quite crude but the pieces are all there,
so you haven't got to make anything up,
- apart from a few little spots here and there. - That's true.
That makes it easier. Right.
Well, I don't know about easy, but...
- THEY LAUGH - ..it certainly helps, yes. - It helps.
Antique collectors Diana and Scott live in Lincolnshire with
their two dogs, Ginger and Lily.
- Come on, good girl. - They're both barking about bulldogs.
One day I was speaking to one of my colleague dealers and he said,
"I've got this bulldog figure, it's quite badly damaged,
"smashed about a bit, do you want it at all?"
I said, "Yes, that would be lovely, thank you very much.
I went into work one day and it was just there.
It was a big smashed-up pottery bulldog called Sweet Pea.
When Scott brought Sweet Pea home, I took one look and I thought,
"Oh, my goodness!"
"What's that?" It was a face only a mother could love!
Sweet Pea was assigned to sit by the front door,
as pride of place under the stairs belonged to another very special
bulldog, their beloved pet, Harvey.
He was part of the family.
A mainstay of the family.
He was a good guard dog, he barked.
He was always attentive to anything going on around the place.
Harvey had been part of the family for eight years when tragedy struck.
Harvey started to limp initially.
The vet diagnosed arthritis, which, erm...
got very bad very quickly, and after X-rays the word used
was "mashed", they were shot.
There was nothing they could do to help him, really,
so we made the decision for Harvey, not for us, for Harvey, to...
..to have him put to sleep.
He couldn't be in that pain, so we had to do it, and as you can see...
..quite a while after, I'm still...
He was a big part of our lives.
- HE SNIFFS - Sorry.
Having the space filled under the stairs with Sweet Pea
has just sort of helped us get over it a bit.
It's softens the blow.
It helps us cope.
It is a memorial to Harvey and it would just mean an awful lot to see
the silhouette out of the corner of your eye, have a bulldog sat alert.
It would mean quite a lot to get fixed, really.
What I'd like to do is clear off all this sort of old adhesive and stick
it back, nicely, so it looks a lot better than it does.
And his tail, is there anything...
Oh, dear, oh, dear!
OK, guys, if you leave it with us and we'll get back to you
once we've fixed it. It will look a lot better than it does now.
- Absolutely. - Thank you very much.
- You guys take care. - Thank you, bye-bye.
You've got the sentimental value which is directly linked to Harvey.
Absolutely. That responsibility.
- It is a big responsibility. - Yeah.
So I'm just applying the paint stripper now.
This should start to break down the previous adhesive
which will enable me to remove it
and undo the previous repair.
- What have you done? You've covered him up. - Yes, I've covered him up.
It's to hold the active chemicals in place...
- OK. - ..so it can work on the adhesive.
That's the ugliest thing I've ever seen in my life, really.
He's going to look a lot more beautiful when I've finished.
From fading masterpieces...
The purpose of the filling is to actually bring up the surface.
..to clocks that have fallen silent.
The Repair Shop squad is poised to repaint,
reupholster and restore Britain's broken objects.
Next to arrive is Sue Wright.
She's been assigned to Frenchman Guillaume Pons,
a specialist ceramics conservator who works with natural materials
such as horn, amber and shell.
What did you bring, then?
I have a mother-of-pearl item.
Sue's brought a seashell,
intricately carved with a depiction of the Last Supper.
It arrived in the family via an ancestor who travelled
as part of his duties to the church.
I'm not quite sure whether it's come from Brazil and that would have been
about the beginning of the 20th century,
or it's come back a lot further through various ministers
in the family who have used it for
baptisms or something like that.
And what is the story behind Brazil, then?
My grandfather was working out there.
Oh, right. It's been broken how long?
- Since 1960. - Oh, right.
Do you know who did the repair, no?
- My mother. - Right.
It's got the yellow 1960s-type glue on there,
and it obviously didn't hold.
It looks like more or less everything is there,
and the fact that your mother kept it for so long,
keeping all the bits together, it must have meant a lot to her.
It did. She was very upset when it broke, hence why she kept all the bits,
so we're really looking forward to see if you can do something with it.
Yeah, you will be very pleased, yeah.
It looks very promising.
He seems to be quite confident that it can be repaired back to pristine
condition, which it hasn't been in for 60 years.
First of all, what needs to be done is to clean, very well,
the glue that was put in the '60s,
so my work today is going to be
to remove all the adhesive with a scalpel.
It's time-consuming but it works very well.
I'm very pleased with the cleaning, actually, it worked very well.
I don't need to put
much glue, just
a little drop.
It's a bit tricky to do the bonding, because the bits, as you can see,
are very small, and you can't really
put them together with tape.
I will have to stick them together with some sticky wax.
The wax holds the glued pieces tightly together,
while the adhesive is drying.
Done. So that means that...
..we wait until tomorrow, until the adhesive has set...
..and hopefully it's going to stay together,
so tomorrow it should be finished.
Guillaume's final task is removing the stabilising wax from the glued shell.
All done now. I remove the sticky wax.
You can see where it was broken.
You can hardly see it now.
It's been a very nice piece to work on and I'm very pleased with the results.
On the other side of the workshop,
Kirsten's plans for Sweet Pea the bulldog are coming unstuck.
But not in the way she'd hoped for.
It's not going very well, actually.
It's proving incredibly difficult to get the old adhesive off Sweet Pea.
I don't know what they used but it's absolutely rock hard
and I've tried all my usual techniques to try and break down
the repair and I'm just getting nowhere at the moment,
so it's quite frustrating.
- Will? - Yeah. - I know you keep suggesting a sledgehammer,
but I wonder if you have any practical suggestions.
You could try drilling.
KIRSTEN LAUGHS
- OK... - Drilling, right, in the cracks with a really fine drillbit,
or a really fine file, kind of like what dentists use on your teeth.
I know, yeah. No, I've used...
That is a really good idea.
You go over to Steve, maybe if you offer to make him a cup of tea
- or some toast. - This workshop runs on tea, doesn't it?
Exactly. Speak to Steve, I'm sure he can help.
Look out, here comes trouble.
I'm thinking I might actually try drilling through the little areas
where there's... I've actually broken through.
I've got a very, very fine dentist's drill.
This drillbit should go in there really nicely.
It's got a long reach to it as well, so you can go quite deep.
OK, I'm going to give it a go.
I just have to be really mindful of not damaging the break edges.
I think that might be a bit ambitious. Turn it off.
And that's definitely not the ceramics that's crunching, is it, Steve?
That's adhesive, I'm sure.
You're starting to make me nervous now!
THEY LAUGH
- Over to you! - Give that to me!
Despite careful drilling and filing,
Kirsten has realised that
she is in danger of further damaging the ceramic.
I've tried absolutely everything I can possibly think of,
and also asked around as well for a few of my conservator friends.
So she's had to change tack.
Instead of breaking Sweet Pea apart then putting him back together again,
she's concentrating on improving the existing repairs.
I'm now having to fill Sweet Pea,
which is a little bit of a compromise.
It's not ideal, but it's the only thing I can do,
actually, in the circumstances.
After filling and sanding several times to achieve the perfect finish,
Kirsten must now disguise her repairs by creating the perfect colour match.
I'm just starting to block in the colours and sort of try and hide
the white fills that are there.
There's lots and lots of different colours all over the face.
The decoration under the glaze is very sort of spotty,
so I kind of just stipple with my brush to recreate that effect.
It's taken Kirsten days of dogged work to get Sweet Pea looking less
rough, and she still has to put the spring back into his corkscrew tail.
Putting Sweet Pea's tail back on is sort of a little bit like...
..surgery.
Restoring him to his former glory.
It's really critical to get the shape absolutely right at this stage.
You can sand it and shape it once it's cured, but it becomes very,
very hard and it's much,
much easier to do it now while it's soft and malleable.
With the way everyone's sort of handling the objects,
it's just having a respect for the pieces you're working on.
At the end of the day, people have brought them to you because they're...
They're precious items, so...
..we handle them with care and respect.
It's this ethos that drives the Repair Shop team,
in their quest to recycle,
renovate and rejuvenate items that were once consigned to the scrapheap.
The next deserving item is being brought in
by Scandinavian-born Nina Tucknott, who now lives in Hove.
Oh. So this is your one, yes?
This is my rocking chair.
So, tell us about it.
My maternal grandparents were given it for their wedding day,
back in the late 1920s, and this was in Finland where I come from.
And in 1960 in August, when my parents got married,
they were given it in turn for their wedding.
- Wow. - And I am born in 1961 and it's been part of my life always.
So, the '20s. Do the maths, you're younger than me.
- That's nearly 100 years. - Nearly 100 years.
This is nearly 100 years old!
So I'm told. My grandparents had a big farm and it was always in
what they call the salon, and then my parents,
it was always in the lounge, but I know as a child,
I suffered very badly from severe ear infections,
and my mum and dad used to take turns sitting at night rocking me
- in this chair. - So much history.
I mean, I have never seen a rocking mechanism like this before, never,
never. It's so simple, but really effective.
Yes, it is. It means you don't topple over.
You can go back a long way but it keeps you quite safe.
It's a bit worse for wear.
This down here has always looked like that,
and my mum used to stuff it with cotton wool because it used to annoy
her having a hole! Since before it came on the journey to England,
this chipped off so it's never... There was a little piece there,
but that went on the journey when it came over.
The one thing I would love fabric-wise,
to feature a little bit of red.
This is the farmhouse that my grandparents had,
and this is a very typical Scandinavian colour,
so I kind of feel the red, a little bit of red in the fabric
would just sort of tie it back, back to home, sort of thing.
- Do you reckon you could do the wood? - I think I can handle the wood.
You can handle the fabric?
The fabric, yeah. I love going a bit of red, that's not...
And the painting, um...
- Yeah, does need... It's had a couple of coats. - It has.
The last time my dad did it and I was a little girl
so it was back in the '60s! So it's not been done since!
All right. OK, well, if you leave it with us, we'll fully restore it.
Can't wait, that would be wonderful.
- Thank you, Jay. - Thank you.
Thank you, and to you, Will, thanks, bye!
I don't know how it's held on together.
Because there's a cable going from this end on the left side,
and that goes into the back leg on the left side,
and there's a cable on this side, and that goes down into this side,
so it's sort of like an X.
- I'm with you. - So you're never going to flip off because you're being
- held from the other direction. - Yeah.
So simple, but like, really clever.
I get the feeling that they really, really liked it,
and they're obviously excited about bringing it back to its former glory.
If you don't mind, bring it over to me bench, will you?
- Yeah. - Nice one. - That's all right. If you make some space...
- I will do. - ..I'll be there in about 45 minutes!
- THEY LAUGH - All right. - Oh, that's lovely.
Over on Kirsten's workbench,
Sweet Pea the bulldog's grooming session is nearly complete.
Sounds like you got a new toy.
Kept that quiet, didn't you?
- You love a bit of kit. - I do love a bit of kit.
I'm just doing a little bit of airbrushing on Sweet Pea.
I've hand-painted most of it and I was actually just putting
- a clear glaze over the top. - Hold on, glaze is like the end, isn't it?
- Well, yes. - So the end is near.
Well, the end is near, yes, I'm sort of in the final stages, really.
Steve, come over here a minute, mate.
Will, here we go.
- All done? - Sweet Pea.
- All done, yeah. - Amazing.
When Scott and Diana left Sweet Pea at the Repair Shop, he was, well,
a bit of a dog's dinner.
Since Sweet Pea's been gone,
Harvey has been at the forefront of our minds.
The sooner Sweet Pea is back in the rightful place, I think we move on.
I won't keep you waiting any longer, I've got him just here.
It's not Sweet Pea as you know him.
Sweet Pea mark two.
- Are you ready? - We're ready!
- Definitely ready, yes. - OK. There he is.
SHE GASPS
- So... - Wow. - The eyes are all...
- Just wow. - Oh, my goodness me.
- Wow. - Good grief.
Obviously, the tail was missing as well.
- Fantastic. - I hope that's the right...
No, that's beautiful.
- It's perfect. - I can't get over this.
Sweet Pea looks stunning, and I think the tail is the icing on the cake,
to have the whole thing finished off and the colour match as well,
around the head, the shading - beautiful.
And the inside, have you seen the inside?
How the heck have you done that?
Well...
You're a miracle worker.
- Thank you very much. - No, thank you.
- This is the lady you've got to thank, not me, she's done all the work. - It has been a pleasure.
I'm so, so pleased that you're happy.
Yes.
I think it will help us draw closure.
I think once Sweet Pea's back where he should be....
- It's the final chapter, yeah. - Yeah.
Back inside the Repair Shop,
Jay's getting to grips with the 100-year-old rocking chair.
To me, this looks a bit home-made,
because you've got this Regency fabric just stitched onto,
looks like the back of some hessian, but actually,
I think it's a bit of carpet.
You're making some serious progress.
- Yeah, it is, actually. - But you're missing some pieces,
- there's a piece off the top. - No, I'm not missing any pieces,
you're the guy that's sorting out the pieces, so I'm not missing them,
they're just in your brain, your fingers, and you're going to do it all, ain't you?
So I need a bit on here and then there's a bit on there that I need.
I got the other bit, it's just drying at the moment.
- So where are you going? - I'm going to get my stuff!
- Oh, you're going to get your stuff. - I can't do it all in my mind
- and my fingers. - What are you going to do anyway?
- You're going to make... You're going to fix this, aren't you? - Yeah.
I have some really cool mould-making stuff.
- OK. - And I think what I'll do, because we can't replace these...
I think these are made out of metal, and they screw on to the inner
wiring, but what I could do is make a mould of that and make that
out of plaster or something.
Will repairs the hole with a fast-setting filler,
before using a silicon-based putty
which hardens to form a mould of the missing button.
Easy with the back.
- Easy, tiger! - WILL LAUGHS
- You keep on doing it! - I keep on doing it.
I am apologising profusely.
Take it off, let's have a look.
It's got to look like... Cor blimey.
It does look like it, as well.
And it's hard already.
Wow. That's impressive.
- Hey, hey? - Well done. - Where there's a Will...
- There's a way! - There's a way! - THEY LAUGH
Jay will have to down tools momentarily.
With ceramicist Guillaume having left the Repair Shop
after completing the restoration of the mother-of-pearl shell,
it's up to Jay to hand it back to its owner, Sue.
Hello, Sue, how are you doing?
- You all right? - Fine, thank you.
You've come for your mother-of-pearl shell, is that right?
- Yes, I have. - Two minutes.
Sue's about to see her rare and beautiful heirloom intact
for the first time in almost 60 years.
- SUE GASPS - Guillaume has done a brilliant job,
- I believe. - That is absolutely wonderful.
I'm... The pieces that were broken off were down in this bottom
right-hand corner here.
And it's difficult to see where it is!
He's just done such a wonderful job on it.
He has, hasn't he?
- Yes. - What would Mum think of this now?
Oh, she'd be thrilled, because obviously, having kept all the bits,
- it would have been her ideal, I think, to get it mended. - Yeah.
And it never happened.
So where is this going to be placed in your house now?
Well, I think it needs to be framed, safe, because it's still delicate,
- rather than on a plate stand. - I totally agree with you.
With a similar velvety or something,
- dark-coloured background to show it off. - To show it off.
So what I'll do is I'll get it wrapped up now,
and allow you to take it home
- and enjoy it some more. - Thank you very much indeed, thank you.
- No problem. - I was absolutely amazed at the wonderful craftsmanship
that Guillaume has done on it. I'm just in awe of them.
I'm so grateful to have it back.
With another satisfied customer on her way, it's back to work for Jay,
and there's final flourishes to add to the 100-year-old rocker.
Bosh, bish, bash, bam, bam, bam.
Done.
- What do you think, then, guv? - I reckon that is really, really smart.
I love that little touch there.
That just sets it off beautiful.
- Will's done proud on there. - He's done a great job. - Carved it in.
And this little bit here as well.
- Has he turned it up? - Well, he's made it out of plaster.
What? He's a skilful chap.
- (Don't tell him!) - I know, I know, I have problems telling him.
- Ladies. - THEY LAUGH
- All right? - Yeah, we're good.
- Hears his name... - And he's straight in there.
- So, it's done, what do you reckon? - That's like a chair version of you.
It's true. Oh, yeah, it is, actually!
In fact, if you sat on there, you'd be camouflaged, wouldn't you?!
You jokers! You know I don't sit on a chair.
No-one sits on it until the owner.
Restoration complete, Nina's beloved chair is rocking up in Hove...
..with her two sons Sebastien and Lucas taking charge of this family
- treasure. - Both Will and Jay seemed very excited when they first got the
chair in the Repair Shop and they both seemed very confident.
It was a bit scary for me to leave it there and not know what was going
- to happen. - The chair is really important for my mum.
It's always been there, really.
It's just kind of been something that we've always played with,
it's always been, literally, part of the furniture.
- You ready to see it? - Yes, I'm ready to see it.
Here we go.
Wow!
Amazing.
Look at that lovely red piping on the side, which is what I wanted,
a bit of red to remember and remind me of Grandma and Grandad's farm.
And look at this. A new lease of life.
And look down here, they've put a new covering on there.
That used to just be a hole and you could see right through.
Precious, absolutely precious.
I just wish they could be here and I could say thank you so much,
because they've...they've
done a really grand job with it.
Brings back so many happy memories, doesn't it?
It's brilliant, isn't it?
It's priceless, because obviously there's so much history I remember,
and also because I'm living in a different country,
every time I look at it, it does bring back memories of the farm,
memories of my mum.
It is part of my life, it is very,
very important and that's why we have it and we'll keep it.
Can you rock? Can you rock?
It's really important to recreate those kind of moments.
We've had photos in the chair and it's so nice to see Hayden
in the chair as well and re-capture those memories and hopefully,
in many, many, many years,
his children will have photos in the chair as well.
Join us next time as more items receive the Repair Shop treatment
and are given a new lease of life.