6th Floor Studio

As Shanghai's urban landscape changes apace, one resourceful expat in the city has found a novel means of not simply preserving, but reinventing and revitalizing architectural elements and forgotten pieces of furniture into something altogether different, each with a story to tell.

Down one of HuaiHai Lu's old winding lanes, the home Natalie Clark shares with her partner is a veritable treasure trove, quite lovely in its eclecticism. Vehemently anti the Ikea identikit look, the trained in architect and industrial designer, has kitted the property out with antique furniture from both her native Australia and China to impressive effect.

The décor provides a clue to her latest endeavor, 6th Floor Studio, which sees Natalie transform salvaged fittings into beautiful objects for the home, and give reclaimed pieces of furniture a new lease of life. "I've been doing it for about a year now – when I first arrived in Shanghai I used to wander the streets, really to get to know the French Concession area a bit better, and I'd just find things." Her initial bounty was a pair of trunks, rescued from a shop refurbishment: "I asked them how much in my terrible Chinese, and it really just went from there", she recalls.





Since then Natalie has rapidly accumulated household objects, ranging from the intriguing through to the seemingly beyond hope – broken beds, lone table legs and remnants of balustrades, however distressed-looking, are all here, destined for a revamp and often, new purpose. "It's the timber guys with their big wheelbarrows that you see who are best – I'm constantly stopping and harassing those guys! I buy mostly off them, and prices really vary". Another source of material is an antiques trader, who happily passes on damaged furniture unfit for sale in his store.

Currently, everything happens at home – storage, sanding, painting and selling. Before they make it over the threshold though, items get a thorough wash outside. From their, Natalie ponders how best to treat her treasures, including a recent acquisition of an old traditional Chinese bed, its varnish peeling and woven base ruptured in places. "It comes from one of those old houses that's being torn down to make way for something more modern – I think it's really beautiful. I've taken it back quite a bit and I think I'm probably going to put a mirror behind it and open it up a bit more... it's a work in progress!"



Right now, mirrors are a mainstay of Natalie's work, incorporating them with unexpected settings. Wooden seats and stools, for example, offer an ideal size and unusual texture where upholstery was once fitted, whilst it's perhaps her collection of old window frame mirrors, locks and all, that are most unusual. A particularly striking example tells a long and varied history through layered levels of paint, still partly visible on the now transformed object – dark red, copper green and of course natural wood, it's curiously pretty and of course, completely unique.

"A lot of lane houses and old apartments in Shanghai are putting in new double glazed windows and getting rid of the beautiful old wooden ones, so I grab those and decide what to do with them. It borders design and art – they're one-offs, I do the work myself, and they all have their own individual histories".

Other pieces see blackboards fitted inside unusual picture frames; or bits of broken balustrade, their dark brown stain worn away to reveal a gorgeous aubergine hue underneath, transformed into an ideal and unusual candle holder.





There's larger pieces of furniture, too – tables, cabinets, chairs and the like – and this is an area Natalie would like to further explore. For now, though, space is of the essence: "What I'd like to do is get a warehouse to store everything... right now it's just slowly accumulating at home and if I'm not careful I'll get in a bit of trouble with my boyfriend! I'm slowly taking over the house!"

Perched on, where else, the sixth floor of the building is Natalie's small but well equipped workshop. Bottles of various wood stains line the walls, with tins of paint stacked in one corner, tools neatly stored and satisfying clusters of odds and ends, severed table legs, glassless windows and general offcuts lying around. Clearly led by a combination of industrial design know-how and a passion for old furniture, the designer also credits a childhood growing up on a farm in rural Australia for equipping her with the skills her new trade demands: "My mum's really creative – she sews, she makes clothes, she paints – but my father is very hands on. The farm has a huge tool shed and I've grown up with Dad showing me how to do things and me having an interest. I still call him with questions now!"

The business has grown largely organically through word of mouth, and although she currently sells mostly to expats, hopes to expand internationally in the future. "I just love going out and finding these gems – they say, one man's trash is another man's treasure! Creating stuff from what other people throw away is very satisfying too. It's almost recycling, or at least reusing and the nice thing about these pieces is that they have history, they have a story."

For more details, check 6th Floor Studio's website, and to arrange a visit, drop Natalie a line here.