It’s always the small, intricate little details that create the perfect mood at any function. The added features that can at times get overlooked, but ultimately make all the difference. So it’s no surprise I fell in love with the Rustic Hire collection. Rustic Hire are a furniture rental company who specialise in beautiful vintage and industrial furniture. Their range allows you to make your event your own if you’re after that rustic romantic feel for your occasion. Complete with a collection of bars, seating, tables and decor as well as a huge range of vintage trinkets and curios to decorate your day – their’s something for everyone!
- Who is the brain child behind Rustic Hire?
Rustic Hire’s founder and owner is Ray Radice, a goldsmiths’ art graduate who worked in the creative industries, as a photographer, art director and designer in London before starting Rustic Hire. Now the whole extended family is involved, from employing parents, aunties, uncles to help designer, buy, makers and managers.
- Where did the name originate from?
The name, I suppose, gives a feel for the look and ethos behind what we do. Firstly we are makers. We make things by hand. We are not mass producers pushing buttons at a factory or importing cheaply made goods from China. Sourcing reclaimed wood, whether it be from dance halls, seaside piers or old school sports halls, and working with it to create furniture, gives the wood a continuing purpose and another story. Our wide range of curios harks back to a time when even the rudimentary bucket was made with care and intimate workmanship. Hence we have something that’s newly made but aged, imperfect yet sturdy, classic in style and timeless. But that’s all a bit wordy. So we stick to the word ‘Rustic’.
- You specialise in rustic themed wedding/ event furniture – what made you get into this line of work?
Rustic Hire was born out of the desire to furnish my own wedding believe it or not! Everything that I looked at seemed over fussy at one end of the spectrum to cheap and fake at the other. So I took the logical route and set about making 24 tables out of reclaimed oak panel dance floor, the original batch of Great Oak Trestle tables, and sourcing our Lafayette chairs! I’m lucky I got married to be honest!
- With weddings being your line of work, what is the most rewarding part of being part of your clients big day?
It is always exciting planning a big event but it can also be stressful. It is great to feed off that energy and excitement and help people achieve what they’re after. The most rewarding part of this work however is hearing how happy our clients have been on their wedding days with the look they achieved using our furniture and props. We especially love to see their pictures and just how creative people can be – that creativity is so inspiring and humbling especially with the touches of personality it brings to the canvas.
- Being a small business owner yourself, what have been some of the challenges you have encountered and how have or are you overcoming them?
When ‘Rustic Hire’ started we had no idea if it could be successful. Of late we have had to expand our service rapidly due to demand which has been great but also tough – you never know if the rollercoaster is going to come to an abrupt end! We are keeping positive and proactive with our expansion, always looking at new ideas for tables, bars and all those lovely accessories – I particularly like the roll top ice bath! With the expanding workload we have opened a second depot in Norfolk recently so we can better service the Midlands and East of England whilst keeping our ‘mothership’ running from South London.
It is a massive commitment being on call for clients, particularly over weekends when events are happening so we have a dedicated and experienced team to share the load.
- Your entire range is so romantic and rustic – what inspires you to keep innovating your collection?
This is easy. I am passionate about interiors and design, textures and colours. It is hard to stop myself from looking for the next thing to add to our collection! As we speak I am excited about the circus style lighting ‘BAR’ letters we are going to be adding – keep a look out for them as they are coming soon as they say! I love to hear client wish lists too as invariably the people that are putting on these events are really inspired. This really helps me to try and stay focused with what people are after to create their special day.
- Is their a quote or mantra you live by as business owners?
“Rustic Hire, Rustic, Rustic Rustic.” & “Create stuff you love yourself and the people will love it too.”
- Lastly, what’s next for Rustic Hire?
More depots across the country! All in good time though.
Or Rustic living?! My home is a homage to the Rustic theme. I have occasionally considered expanding hire into sales, perhaps with an online shop? Maybe even keeping in theme with weddings, a collaborative online wedding gift list? This is something that we tried to do through Pinterest when we got married so that we could champion more of the independent crafters who upload their images to Pinterest but we didn’t quite perfect it! A work in progress….
Get Rustic:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/rustichireltd
Twitter: www.twitter.com/rustichireltd
Instagram: www.instagram.com/rustichire
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/rustichireltd
