About Us
Establishment
Our company, Original Features, was established in 1990 by Richard Garland and his partners, who were managing a successful construction company.
The original idea for Original Features came at a time when we were converting a lot of large Victorian and Edwardian houses into flats. We were very keen to retain as much of the original feel to the conversions as possible but we found it very difficult to find the products and services to enable us to do that, a lot of the traditional, professional skills were dying off, it was very frustrating. Therefore the idea to serve the private client market came out of this gap
Richard Garland
Richard and his partners envisioned a “one stop shop” supplying all the products and services needed for the refurbishment of period properties.
Development
We moved to our premises in Crouch End, North of London, where an Original Features’ high street shop was opened.
We liaised with “hard to find” restoration experts, reviving their old skills.
One of the techniques which were used in Victorian times in order to improve the look of a fireplace, was to “marble it” – to paint a marble effect. In one of the cases, we found a professional who had the skills to do that, however as he had not done that kind of work for so long, his wife came along to watch him do it.
Richard Garland
The Original Features shop supplied plentiful restoration solutions such as period fireplaces, tiles, traditional stained glass and wallpapers
In addition, we were providing restoration and installation services and even had our own stained glass workshop.
We employed our own fitters and some of the people that we now work with are actually ex-employees.
Richard Garland
Gaining knowledge, liaising with experts in the field and creating relationship with suppliers from in and out of the UK, Original Features gradually grew to become one of the leading experts in the restorations field.
Focusing
Striving to provide the highest quality service, we began focusing on Victorian floor tiles and period fireplaces, and became the largest retailer of the Olde English Tile range in the UK.
Along the years we have been engaged on several large scale projects, such as the restoration of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Victoria and Albert MuseumPeter Thompson who was a restoration consultant during the work at the V&A: “The restoration at the V&A took us about 2 months and we cut around 13,000 tiles for the job. A lot of the work had to be done overnight in order to enable the V&A to welcome its public during day time.
A considerable amount of the restoration was done in a room which was used as a Canteen, serving tea for soldiers during WWII. The Canteens’ floors were covered with tea stains, and although today these stains could have been removed using the proper cleaning materials, back then the floors were covered with Linoleum in order to hide the stains.
A crucial part of the work involved matching the replacement tiles’ colours to the original Victorian tiles. We were testing different kinds of white shades in order to match the 100 year old white tiles......in fact the perfect match was a very pale grey.”
Tony Fricker who, at the time, was a restoration foreman:“...One of the difficulties we encountered was that a part of the V&A’s original tiles were much thinner than normally found. In order to restore these floors we had to lift the base and rebuild it in order for the replacement tiles to match perfectly and create a perfectly flat floor surface...”
Expanding and Rebranding
In 2010 we introduced Original Features’ online shop, enabling customers to enjoy our high quality services at the convenience of their home.
The company has gone through a rebranding process, including refurbishment of the high street shop and a launch of a new website.
Online opportunities enable us to expand our range of products again, fulfilling our primary vision of a “one stop shop”. Therefore, in our online shop, we aim to offer numerous product ranges and services for the restoration and enhancement of period properties, and to serve as a period-construction specialist knowledge hub.
By doing so, our customers will be able to easily and freely benefit from our knowledge and experience.
