Brenton West

Brenton West is The Repair Shop's silversmith and antique photography specialist. He has been tinkering making and repairing broken things for as long as he can remember. Brenton is the master of replicating the missing pieces and reinstating the shine.

BBC Website interview
How did you come to be an expert in your field / tell us about what you do?

I was arty at school - being creative in the metalwork and art departments. This led to me doing a degree in silversmithing at the highly rated Medway College of Design. This course gave me the ability to shape, make and repair metal and other materials. As well as gold and silver I have worked on racing and classic cars.

Later in life as a challenge, I took a degree in Photography. I specialised in 19th Century photography and equipment. My silversmithing is my most enduring skill as I have been doing it over 40 years.

How did you come to be on The Repair Shop?

The producers asked me to repair a wooden camera that they had been told was irreparable. It was the sort of job that I had been doing for ages but was still challenging. Taking a picture of the Repair Shop experts with the restored camera was a great ending.

I reminded the producers that I was also a silversmith (I had used those skills on the brass parts of the camera). Soon I was being asked if I could fix this or that and within no time I became one of the regulars.

What has been your most memorable or challenging repair to date?

Because I have done so many, I guess it is the people that I remember and their reactions. The 'swagger stick' repair was the most challenging. It was in and out in one day and the whole time that I was doing the job, I wasn’t sure that it was possible - it was a high-pressure situation. The reaction of the owner made it all worthwhile, showing the simplest (apparently) of repairs can mean so much.

What would be your dream repair?

I have had a few already. I would love to repair a known silversmith’s piece. I always enjoy the challenge of repairing items that I have never seen before, for example I had never been in contact with a botanical microscope before repairing the one on the show.

What do you love most about being on the Repair Shop?

When I first saw the Repair Shop (I wasn’t in series 1) I thought what an amazing place to work and how I would love to work there. When I got the call and arrived to work in the barn I wasn’t disappointed. The setting, the challenges, the happiness of the contributors and working with the other amazing experts make it a dream. Genuinely, everyone gets on like a close-knit family.