Our Story

The very first Artefact was an accident. Like most things in life, it came as a surprise. It was unpolished, dirty, and could barely be deemed practical. It had no silicon feet, no stamp, and no cunning design behind it. It wasn’t meticulously tweaked like they are now - just a happy accident.

It came from a terracotta brick that Ant had found underneath the house. It had a fern growing out of one of the brick’s holes, which he thought was pretty and tried to keep alive. Being accustomed to dust and darkness, the fern died once rehomed in the bedroom. So in a fit of disappointment, Ant tossed it out the window and it hit the concrete driveway where it shattered into a few pieces - one of those fragments had a hole in it, which was the perfect size to house a candlestick.

This makeshift candleholder and it’s unusual origin story became a conversation starter. No one had seen anything like it, and it became a bedside (and sometimes bathside) staple for years to come.

Upon Ant & Matt meeting, Matt noticed the brick fragment and it quickly became a frequent topic of discussion. In the months that followed, the dining table was strewn with diagrams of the candleholder drawn by hand. Ideas and inspiration were flowing, the diagrams started to depict prickets (which we’d later learn was the word for a candlestick spike) and silicon feet. Countless versions of it were designed, but the most hilarious part was the difficulty in recreating something that was a complete accident on all counts.

We persevered anyway - mostly because we’re both stubborn, but also because we enjoy creating beautiful things. We knew that more bricks (and other non-waste materials) would be lying under houses. We knew they’d also be in construction skips headed for landfill. Then a lightbulb turned on, and the mission to utilise construction waste to create practical, beautiful homewares emerged. 

We knew each piece would have its own interesting history; much like that brick dug out from under Ant’s flat. Homewares with history, some might say - but we decided to call them Artefacts.