I started Proper after 30 years running my branding and digital agency Ranch. I now concentrate on Proper and Ranch runs happily alongside with my business partner.

Since really young I have been an avid collector of ‘old things’. With my mother I used to ask shopkeepers if I could take their enamel advertising signs from the outside of their buildings. The jumble sale junk table is where you would find me on a Saturday.

This passion has never been absent, but the size and quantity of the items became larger and larger. I was running out of space and realised that they were probably just going to be stored away for years.

Buying and then selling was the answer. The rush of finding a great item at a good price, the mini love affair of renovation and photography, and selling it on to someone who really appreciates it.

I feel I can ‘celebrate’ the piece while I have it and give it another life time of use.

As well as well know brands and designers, I like seeing the potential in unbranded and sometimes cheaper pieces. For instance I am a standard bearer for 1960’s Formica drop leaf kitchen tables !

I am passionate about al the pieces presented here, I hope you like them as much as I do.

Paul Jenkins
Founder / sourcer / photographer / renovator / salesman