LITTLE WHITE BIRD

We have a very exciting Furniture Artist Focus for October! RetroEnterior are Brand Ambassadors for Redesign With Prima (whom we’re long-term stockists of) and Experts on TWO BBC1 Upcycling shows!

Thank you RetroEnterior, we’ve been followers and admirers of your work for quite a while, and so are very honoured you’ve agreed to take part!

First up… we’ve noticed this isn’t a solo journey so who are RetroEnterior? Please tell us how your Upcycling journey all came about.

RetroEnterior was founded by Saurabh and Fernando back in 2019. We have both always been conscious about the environment and back in 2019, when we painted our house, we clicked on the idea of rescuing and painting furniture, and that's how it all started!

And of course, we can’t move on without delving more into your work with Redesign With Prima – how did you come to be Brand Ambassadors for this titan in the Upcycling world?

We have always been fond of Redesign With Prima products. We saw an opportunity in 2024, applied to be BA's and got accepted.

In addition to your work with Prima, you’re also artists on BBC1’s Make it at Market and Money for Nothing! We previously interviewed Sarah Haugh, who also appears on Money for Nothing – did you get approached out the blue as she did, or is there an application process?

We love Sarah's work, it's very inspirational.

The Assistant Producer for MFN saw our work on Instagram and asked if we would like to participate. It was a dream come true, as MFN has been a huge part of our upcycling journey, we learned a lot watching the program.

For Make it at Market, we came across an advertisement in one of the Upcycling magazines back in 2021 and applied. Since then, every year, they advertise on their Instagram whenever applications are open.

Your work is really diverse, obviously a lot of Prima products are used – do you get inspired by the products themselves, or do your ideas come from some other source?

Thank you so much. We love Redesign With Prima products and look for the right furniture to go with the products. Then we use our imagination/creative ideas to put the two together.

Where do you sell your pieces? Is one avenue more successful than another?

Facebook and Upcite have been very successful for us, I would recommend both places.

Do you have an all-time favourite product? Or is there anything you particularly recommend?

We love stencilling as there are endless possibilities with stencils, using different materials and colours - each piece can look unique even though it's done with the same stencil.

You’ve just achieved 10,000 followers on Facebook, congrats!! What a milestone. Do you have a social media strategy? And any special tips for growing your audience?

Thank you so much, yes, it's been a journey achieving 10k followers. We tend to mix... reels, posts, stories. I share in various upcycling groups to capture different people to love to learn, that way you connect with the right audience.

What do you love to do when not upcycling furniture?

Travelling, we love to travel.

Finally, what does the future hold for RetroEnterior?  Paint us a picture (no pun intended)!

At the moment, the business is still part-time. Going forward, we intend to move to full-time and aim to make more people aware, 'Don't buy new, when you can renew!'

Is there anything more you'd like to add? A message maybe, to would-be Upcyclers?

Yes, we'd like to say, there is nothing stopping you from painting, just pick up some paint and a paintbrush, and it's ok to paint any furniture if your heart tells you to and it gives you happiness. You are saving an old piece of furniture from going to the tip. Don't feel ever feel intimated by online trolls who don't agree with painting furniture.

Thank you Saurabh and Fernando! We wish you very success moving forward with your fabulous business, and take great joy in the fact we get to watch and support you along the way!

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