Upcycling #01

From Crouch End to the French Countryside

Every piece we work on at Ariam has its own journey. This one started with two mid-century Ercol-style chairs, found abandoned in Crouch End, London — the kind of chairs you’d imagine next to an old-school wire telephone and a stack of dog-eared novels.

They needed care: hours of sanding to bring out the soft grain of the birch wood, followed by a gentle coat of low-sheen Danish oil to keep the look natural and warm. For the upholstery, we worked closely with the new owner to choose an off-white corduroy that matched the style of their existing furniture and the colour of the painted beams of their country house in Normandy.

Once the chairs were ready, they were carefully packed into my small Toyota Yaris and driven across the border to Lyons-la-Forêt, one of France’s prettiest villages.

That’s where they live now — two rescued chairs, no longer forgotten, with a new story to tell.