Back in August 2017 i answered a local advert to buy some familiar looking chairs... Having had a few pieces of this unusual woven fibreglass furniture over the years, i knew immediately what it was... a very durable range of garden furniture, designed by Russell Woodard.
When i contacted the seller, i had no idea how much i would find when i went to collect 'a few chairs'. It turns out this mega haul had come from an old garden centre that had closed down and since been stored piled high (and in some cases with undergrowth now engulfing it)!
A friend and i went with his van and ended up filling that several times over, discovering more each time we visited. With loads of unusual, original colours it was really fun.
Many pieces were in kit form with no instructions, so i used what i could find to make tables, benches etc. I made cushions where possible and everything soon flew off to new homes.
Made from thin strands of Fibreglass, surrounded with smooth thicker pieces, it was all surprisingly comfortable and suitable for indoor or all year outdoor use.
I tried to keep prices reasonable due to the huge amount i had now accumulated in my not very large garden! to find one piece would have been fab, but the amount i ended up with was seriously impressive (not sure i ever counted, but multiples of many bits, not just the chairs).
As well as single or pairs of matching chairs, i also had larger sets, with (in some cases) very large tables to match). Sadly some of the glass tops had long gone, and required replacing, but they were seriously impressive sets. It was amazing to see the variations of table base shapes too.
Each time we went back we found more unusual pieces, including sunloungers, planters and trellis panels, of which some sold as single pieces, some as multiples (going into an Art Deco style care home). But also made great kids dens when wired together as shown. It was all about thinking outside the box and offering different uses.
It took a while, but everything has now gone, and i haven't actually seen any other pieces for a few years, maybe i've exhausted supply round here??