Upholstery & furniture restoration bring your own project workshop
A bit about me, I studied at the London college of furniture in 1991, so have over 30 years experience.
My tutor was Malcolm Hopkins, renowned for writing several books and still practices to this day and is now head of the upholstery department at the same venue, now better known as the London Metropolitan University.
On this apprenticeship I learnt and acquired many skills, such as modern and
traditional upholstery, science of textiles, history of furniture, curtain and blind making ,French polishing ,chair frame construction and leather repair.
On completion I started out working as a coach trimmer, recovering car and train seats ,worked for Warner Fabrics
in the archive department assisting the designers with quality control . Then went on to work for high end interior design houses in London, such as Wall Street Interiors, whereby I helped design seating for the Royal Opera House and Arsenal stadium. My current clients include "Lee Wright Antiques" and Anja Ravinder interior designer for "The lakes At Yoo
" exclusive apartments in the lake district.
Lastly my passion for upcycling
and transforming furniture is extremely important to me, as there is nothing worse than seeing good quality chairs, thrown into landfill. Furniture is one of the fastest growing landfill categories. Two years ago, the EPA found furniture accounts for more than 6 million tons of municipal waste in the united kingdom. F-waste, as it is not so affectionately dubbed, constitutes the second largest portion of urban waste.
Recycling
is great in theory, but the mix of materials and chemicals that comprise each item of furniture makes it nearly impossible to process in a recycling facility. Eighty percent of waste goes straight to the dump, making furniture the least recycled household item. Therefore by way of bringing them back to life, it is not only cost effective in some cases but better for the environment.
Workshop info :
This bring Your Own Upholstery Project workshop has been designed to not only be cost effective, but provide students of all ages and abilities , to learn new skills and more importantly; have fun and enjoy!. Whether you are a complete novice or have some experience. You will learn all the basic techniques ,from stripping out , webbing to French polishing, if your piece requires so. You can work at your own pace and will reap the rewards, once your project is complete. All tools and sundries are supplied (apart from fillings, such as foam, horse air, cushions, etc) which will be provided at a small charge. Also in addition to your project, you are required to provide your own fabric/top cover and any trimmings such as braids or decorative nails which we can help you with. Refreshments will be available and there will be half an hour lunch break, so we suggest you bring something with you. Our class sizes will be kept small, with a maximum of 7 to 8 students, this will enable every student to benefit not only from a peaceful and productive working environment but also from more one-to-one time with me . I suggest sending over a picture and brief description of your piece of furniture. I will then determine how many sessions will be needed to complete your project with a written work outline.
ROUGH TIMELINE GUIDE
: Bearing in mind, experience and ability to learn. Footstool, headboard, over stuffed dining chair, drop in seats , ottoman : 1-3 sessions. For a small armchair/wing chair 3-7 sessions.
BOOKING INFO. NEW DATES COMING SOON 2024
Locations : Free Church 2 Bletchley Rd, Newton Longville, Milton Keynes MK17 0AD
Start date : 18.03.2024 and every Monday for 6 weeks
Time : 10 am - 3.30 pm
Parking is free and there is ample space!
Cost : £99 per session- to secure your place we require a deposit of £40 per session (full payment to be made no later than 2 weeks before start date).
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
: For cancellations, please notify us a.s.a.p. Refunds will only be made no later than 2 weeks prior to start date, after this time you will lose your deposit. If you have started and are unable to attend any booked sessions please notify us as soon as you can and we will do our best to transfer you to another date, providing we are able to re-sell your place .We reserve the right to reschedule a workshop if numbers are too low to make it viable to run or will offer to transfer any bookings to other available dates. If the workshop is cancelled for reasons beyond our control then alternative dates will be arranged.
