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At Germantown’s Botanical Style, Brian Foster gives found objects a second chance at life

At Botanical Style, furnishings designer Brian Foster’s Germantown studio, a salvaged factory workhorse takes on new life as a glass-topped table, antique Steinway piano legs hold up a side table, and other found objects are incorporated unexpectedly into one-of-a-kind home and garden furnishings and accessories.

At Botanical Style, furnishings designer Brian Foster’s Germantown studio, a salvaged factory workhorse takes on new life as a glass-topped table, antique Steinway piano legs hold up a side table, and other found objects are incorporated unexpectedly into one-of-a-kind home and garden furnishings and accessories.

Foster, who also owns Lancaster-based wholesale design and manufacturing company Groundwork, finds inspiration at flea markets and antiques sales—often purchasing antique and salvaged items without specific designs in mind, but ready to find their hidden virtues. “Sometimes it doesn’t come together until later,” he says. His creations include rustic tables, serving trays, shelving units and framed arrangements of pressed plants and flowers. Foster also works with clients to craft custom furniture and accessories from found materials. “They’re creative types, patrons of the arts,” he says of his customers. “They don’t want what everyone else has.”

Shoppers can root around the eclectic selection at his appointment-only studio, or during his yearly trunk sale, the Fabulous Fall Foliage Folly, which takes place November 9-10. As for the next stop on Foster’s garden path, only time will tell. But let’s hope he finds some beautiful discarded treasures on his way.

Botanical style, 409 West Queen Lane, Philadelphia, 215-848-0580; botanicalstyle.com.

A table made of reclaimed farmhouse boards, with a reworked garden ornament centerpiece.

A shadow box of sheet music and pressed ferns.