Our Story
Hello & thanks for stopping by,
We’re thrilled that you are interested in our store, our quirky products, and the idea that furniture has a story to tell! All the knocks & bumps show a life well lived… a bit like us!
So how did it all begin? …… 2 travellers, on separate continents, with a love for vintage nostalgia. That’s how!
Jill o' Neill
Jill… “After living in New York, San Francisco and London, I began REFOUND when I moved back to Belfast in a bid to create the sort of vintage style that I had grown to love while on my travels.”
It started out as a pop-up shop at first. I collaborated with local artists and makers to make ‘works of furniture’ – furniture that had been upcycled and recycled into new, beautiful pieces for the home.
Then in 2012, ReFound launched its first fully-fledged shop in the beautiful setting of one of the last remaining Georgian townhouses on Wellington Place, Belfast. And this is where I collided with my vintage soulmate-to-be, Justin.
Justin Lowry
“Living and working in Spain, Belfast, then Africa, I decided to relocate back home in 2012. My father was ill at the time and so I started to help with his local property business. On seeing the potential for a disused property, I started to dabble at the auctions for antique pieces. Always an interest for me, I began to research and collect.”
And collect he did – so much so that On The Square Emporium was started off the back of his collecting, on Tomb Street, Belfast in 2013.
In 2014, 2 shops became 1. Closely followed by a dog, a marriage, 2 wee boys and a house renovation!
OTSE & ReFound came together and are now under 1 roof at our current site on Heron road, Belfast. The 14,000 sq ft warehouse is a treasure trove of all things for the modern vintage hunter lover.
Our brand has now grown into a thriving e-commerce site, a packed store with vintage, antiques and collectibles; sustainable home accessories and textiles; salvaged and recreated lighting; and Prop Hire to various TV shows and Films.
We’re passionate about sharing our expertise, as well as our finds, to help you create a home full of personality and things you adore. Our aim is to inspire you to decorate differently and sustainably, to create a home that makes you happy and tells the story of your life.
To do that we are now incorporating even more of the things that style your home – pattern, radiators, soft furnishings and even paint with our new stock of Heritage brands. And our sustainable range of soft furnishings and homewares.
Styling and curating our antique finds is another area that we relish and know that it can be hard to visualize, so we’ve put lots of effort into creating new imagery and style edits for the new look website and in-store edit zones.
We look forward to sharing this next chapter with you.