Guest Blog: Say Hello to Ree from Restore Magazine

Hello I’m Ree, 

I’m the creator and editor of Restore magazine. 

I’ve been in the upcycling/ furniture industry since 2009 after my position as an accountant was made redundant, painting had always been a hobby for me.

I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do work wise, so I decided to turn my hobby of painting furniture into a business. 

I’ve had my own shop, however now I just have my workshop which is currently full to the brim with vintage furniture. I have also been a brand ambassador and a content creator for some industry leaders. 

Then 2020 came knocking and bought us the pandemic, business was booming in the first part everyone seemed to want furniture but then things were getting worse, we were put into a second lockdown, and I just felt as though delivering furniture into people’s homes was not safe anymore (I have fibromyalgia, so I have a weaker immune system) 

So, I reduced what I booked in on my commissions and did doorstep deliveries. 

It really reduced my working hours, and I am not the type of person to sit and relax, so one day I was chatting with my husband about the future of our business and what I wanted to do. 

I told him all about this artisan, vintage, sustainable and lifestyle magazine I had been thinking about creating for a few years, he looked at me and said it is one of the most amazing and brilliant ideas I had ever come up with. 

So, we researched, planned and then started the build up with issue one in August 2021, the response was amazing! 

We tried to guess how many issues we would need… whatever our initial number was we could have doubled it and still sold out! We sold out of issue 1 in about 5 days.

We are now 12 months in, still growing everyday thanks to our readers and building content, from How To’s, showcasing markets, artisan spotlights and so much more. 

We also have some brilliant regular columnists from Gemma Longworth the presenter from Find it, Fix it, Flog it and Kelley Delany a talented artisan in her own right, plus mental health, courier knowledge and now a new eco columnist, Jodie from Between Green!

We have the next 6 months planned out and its huge, bigger than I planned. 

I absolutely love how we support and share artisans and small businesses. 

If you are reading this and you have a business, from Eco, vintage, upcycling or crafts you can apply online to be a part of a future issue. 

On the green side of things, our physical copies are printed on eco-friendly paper with a zero-carbon company in the UK, so even we do our best to be eco-friendly.

Our new transparent packaging is biodegradable as well. 

You can find out more about the businesses we support on our Instagram