If you love furniture, design and all things fabulous, you’ll adore the work of Coledale’s Britta de Laat.
She takes old furniture and gives it a new lease of life at Dumped & Ditched.
Britta combines her love of vintage furniture with her training as an artist and her skills as an upholsterer, to create incredible and functional pieces.
As a student scouring the streets of London, Britta made some incredible finds. “I was always so excited about finding treasures on the side of the road,” she says. “I was studying at Central St Martins College of Art and then worked in set design, and while I loved working with incredible fabric, I knew fashion wasn’t really my thing.
“Several years later, while living in Amsterdam, I reignited my passion and retrained as an upholsterer, so I am now able to use my love of fabric on gorgeous pieces of furniture.”
During a stay in South Australia, friends sang the praises of the Northern Illawarra, so Britta was delighted when work brought her family here and she was able to call Coledale home!
“It’s fantastic being able to work in such a beautiful place,” says Britta. “I love that I am able to create heirlooms. That together we can re-claim history and find the beautiful in the damaged, dirty and broken.
“Just like people, the history, depth and scars of a piece of furniture is what makes it interesting.”