The retiree and former star chef restoring Melbourne one panel at a time
When his daughter asked him to restore the copper trims of her shop windows, Brian James wasn’t sure he had what it took. Six years later, business is booming.
When you’re restoring metal objects in full public view, such as the copper doors on Melbourne Town Hall, you must steel yourself against hecklers.
The jibes the Copper Doctors have copped include: “You missed a bit”, “why don’t you try using tomato sauce on that?” and “you’re wasting your time”.
Chance to shine: Copper Doctors founder Brian James with employee Paul Martini at Melbourne Town Hall.Credit: Jason South
The barbs have tested their mettle, but they’re forging ahead with their unusual vocation.
Founder Brian James says it’s satisfying work. “Every job you start with something that is tarnished and that’s hiding the real beauty of it,” he says.
James, a 74-year-old retired communications consultant, stumbled into this surprising new gig in 2019, when his daughter Mikala asked him to restore the blackened copper trims of the windows of her shop, Loom Towels, in Armadale’s historic King’s Arcade.
At the time, James joked: “I don’t work with my hands!”
But he enjoyed the challenge and “revealing the beauty of copper” using sanding pads.
James later restored the facades of all 12 of the arcade’s shops and door-knocked vintage shops elsewhere, finding more work and hiring casual workers as needed.
A couple who bought a French chateau had copper and brass antiques, including a sculpted fireplace guard, restored. And for a Geelong church, the doctors restored 60 brass candleholders.
Lifting spirits: Martini working on elevators in the Manchester Unity building.Credit: Jason South
In a mansion in Sydney, James is restoring 200 objects, including copper tulip-shaped garden lamps.
His right-hand man is Paul Martini, 31, formerly a chef at Frantzen, a three Michelin-starred restaurant in Stockholm, Sweden.
Working at Melbourne CBD restaurant Izakaya Den in 2023, Martini noticed James polishing copper on a building facade near his apartment, was intrigued by a sign saying Copper Doctors and struck up a conversation.
