Handrails have a quiet confidence. Positioned along staircases, corridors, balconies — they offer balance, security, guidance. They have an understated presence and sometimes, overlooked. But once removed from their original context, these familiar forms reveal unexpected possibilities.
With Frieze London happening this month, we’re reflecting on the interesting work of artists. London-based artist Nika Neelova contacted our co-founder, Adam Hills, to help her source handrails for her work. In her sculptural practice, they become serpentine structures, twisting through space like relics of vanished buildings. Her striking sculptures (an example below) seems to carry the memory of countless hands and gestures — an intimate record of use. For Neelova, the handrail is no longer a support but a vessel of history, a way to reimagine how bodies and spaces connect.
At Retrouvius, salvage is not just about reuse. It is about seeing potential, about storytelling through material, and about giving objects another life where history and design intersect. In our collaboration with furniture designer, Subin Seol, handrails we salvaged from Fawley Power Station have found new life in the design of the Remembrance dining chair. Where once the timber kept people safe inside the Control Building from where they were salvaged, it now provides rest — its strength and stability redirected into a new kind of support. You can read more about this important collaboration here.
The idea is simple yet profound: material is never static. A handrail salvaged from an industrial site can become a sculptural form, or a piece of domestic furniture. Each retains the marks of its past life, while offering a new role in the present.
Our design team continues to explore these possibilities: transforming handrails into architectural detailing – and often imaginative bespoke joinery. In the colourful home of Steve Lazarides for example, the team used salvaged handrails as drawer fronts to create this TV unit. Sea defence timbers and glazed frames that once held a textile archive conceal the TV (pictured below and also featured in this article in House & Garden magazine. Click here to see).
Our shop often keeps handrails in stock. Some of the ones we have available are here.
