the heart and soul behind  dumped & ditched

Britta de Laat, founder of dumped & ditched, blissfully sources old, unsought pieces of furniture and turns them into unique, truly beautiful statement objects. 

Her romance with rescuing old furniture started when she was a student at renowned Central St Martins College of Art in London.  In the days before gentrification hit East London, she roamed the streets of Shoreditch in search of the perfect photoset: Grimy street corners, uncanny viaducts, warehouses filled with weird and wonderful stuff left behind. Traces and memories of the past were quintessential to her artwork. Many items, lost and found, such like a Chesterfield sofa, made it back into her warehouse.

The following years Britta worked in set decoration in film and events in London as well as Berlin. Despite learning many skills during that time and unleashing her creativity on the sets she was never truly full-filled with her work until she decided to retrain as an upholsterer and subsequently launch dumped & ditched. 

After having lived in many places she has recently relocated her family and business to beautiful Australia. 

Her European roots strongly shine through in her selection of fabrics and her fondness for European postmodern furniture.

In 2021 Britta was casted for the Australian ‘Repair Shop’.

Britta runs the workshop in Bellambi and teaches upholstery workshops there and at Helmesglen Tafe Melbourne.