Meet the team

Andre

Andre is our Gallery Manager and keeps our showroom in order, displaying our stock and getting our new items ready for photography. He manages our warehouse, knowing where each and every item of stock is stored. He delivers many of our fireplaces and accessories within London, so he is likely to be the person carrying your new and incredibly heavy fireplace up the stairs for you! Andre’s lovely mini Schnauzer Leo is often the star of our advertising campaigns so do look out for him, especially at Christmas!

Anthony

Anthony is our Head of Restoration and one of our Directors, overseeing the transformation of our stock from purchase to sale. He is a talented cabinet maker and his love of working with his hands came from his Grandfather, who taught him the cabinetmaking trade from a very young age. He still learns a great deal from 19th and 20th century manuals, whether it be the history of specific items or how best to repair them. On a normal day you will find him in our wood workshop, but he can turn his hand to many other things, from spinning metal and painting stained glass to carving marble.

Benji

Benji is from Kosovo, and works on the restoration of marble and stone. In Kosovo he trained to be a doctor but had a change of career when he arrived in the UK. A self-confessed perfectionist, he can make chips and cracks disappear into the natural striations of the stone. He is just as comfortable using our enormous stone saw as using fine chisels to carve the most elegant of details.

Charlie

Charlie joined the team to assist Andre with the enormous feat that was moving our 50 year old business to the new showroom. We couldn’t bear to part with him, so he now assists Andre in the galleries keeping everything looking beautiful, and also assists Darius and Lee with lighting for their photography.

Darius

Darius as Head of our Office ensures that everything runs smoothly, especially our complicated IT systems. He is part of the Sales Team and is also responsible for photographing our ever expanding stock of lighting and accessories. He has a great eye for detail, and captures our lighting especially well. With his degree in conservation he is adept at offering advice to clients on how to care for antiques! In his spare time he is currently studying accountancy, so his eyes are always on our finances.

Laura

Laura is our Head of Sales and Advertising. Day to day, you’ll find her liaising with clients to help them find exactly what they need, whilst working on our marketing strategies and styling our print advertisements. Like Maggie, she also loves to search for items to add to the company’s ever growing stock. Laura’s degree in Art History helps her carry out research, and she writes our monthly newsletter exploring the history behind some of our finest pieces.

Lee

As our Head of Photography Lee photographs all of our chimneypieces and is responsible for the shooting of our adverts. He loves to create drama in all he photographs. After he graduated with a degree in photography, he went on to work on advertising campaigns for various large companies including some in America. Along with Darius he oversees our IT systems. Lee has been with the company over 20 years - we do buy him a new camera every now and then to keep him happy!

Maggie

Maggie is one of our Directors and the sister of our late founder Geoff Westland. She manages our large database, the stock on our website and together with Laura and Anthony searches for new stock to buy. She spends time and is fascinated by the journeys that research takes her on, often adding discoveries to our enormous archives, which she manages, and through which she says she never stops learning.

Mitin

Mitin is our Accountant, and has worked with Westlands for almost 30 years during which time he has seen the company evolve into what it is today. He is a calming and steady presence in the office taking everything in his stride and is a font of wisdom on all things fiscal. He also advises us in our decision making, ensuring that everything is in order, especially the administration and recording of the day to day business of purchases and sales.

Naim

Naim is from Kosovo and has recently joined the team. He can turn his hand to anything, and works to restore our lighting ready for sale, carrying out fiddly re-wiring and the reassembly of numerous elements! He is always ready to lend a hand and even helped rebuild the roof of our new showroom!

Sam

Sam is one of newest and youngest members of staff, having moved from Stroud to join the marble workshop. He is being trained by Benji and Anthony to use the tools necessary to restore and re-build fireplaces using traditional tools and methods. Previously he trained in woodwork but loves the opportunity to work with marble in all its variation.

Tony

Tony is our wood restorer and has been a cabinet maker for over 35 years. He never ceases to leave us in awe of the quality of his work, and uses many traditional tools and techniques to repair or modify wooden and a variety of other items in our collection. His most impressive restoration to date is almost is certainly the restoration of an enormous Regency urn, where he carved new serpent handles which had been entirely missing.

Zbyszek

Zbyszek works as our metal polisher. He is the man responsible for transforming timeworn and rusty metal into something with a glowing shine! He works with not only cast iron, but steel, brass and bronze too, which all require different materials and techniques in order to restore them to their former glory.

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