Prince of Wales Investiture Chairs

Designed by Lord Snowdon and used by royals and other notable attendees of The Prince Wales’s 1969 investiture ceremony at Caernarfon Castle, the investiture chair was manufactured by Remploy and was made of a vermillion stained plywood and covered in Welsh wool.

Further to this blog entry and with the help of Digger and Mojo I have now finally sourced some of the original Welsh wool for these chairs. It's slightly less orange than the first batch but is exactly right in provenance in that it was woven by the same mill that did the original - the very same man in fact.

 I've done twelve of these in the last two weeks and they look superb in the new cloth.

 So if you have one or more and you live somewhere near me, bring them in. I you live nearer to Wiltshire then give Digger and Mojo a call and they'll do it for you. If you need fabric without upholstery this can be arranged through either of us.

What are you waiting for?

Bus Stop Stool at Neyland, Pembrokeshire.

A Psychedelic stool now available to bus travellers on the B4325 at Neyland, Pembs.

The stool was brought in by a customer but deemed to be 'without enough aesthetic merit to warrant the cost of reupholstery' and so was destined for landfill. I didn't do much to it, just re-used some webbing and foam from another armchair and some scraps of material to make it useful again.

Added a soldier (front leg, look carefully) and it was ready. I was thinking, I know just the place for this having passed the stop late last summer and photographed it. What I hadn't noted was that from our caravan in South Pembs I'd need to pay the 70p toll on the Cleddau Bridge to get to the bus stop and another 70p to get back again. So for the first time ever, this piece of guerrilla upholstery actually cost me money - £1.40 to be exact. That's half a pint in my local.

Who's going to buy me a half to make up for it?

Three Piece Suite in British Wool

A rare opportunity to see some of my work in situ - a lovely little three piece suite reupholstered in Camira wool fabric.

This suite was made in the 90's by Duresta in the UK and is thus very high quality. As it had fire certs and was in almost as-new condition beneath the light-damaged fabric, all I had to do was add feathers to the cushions and re-cover it.

I realise my photography is a far cry from those interiors magazines but the suite looks very smart in this graphite wool fabric doesn't it? And it's not every day I get to place my work in a grand Georgian pile such as this. I just need to remember - 'next time, close the interior doors when you're photographing.'

Look how well the curved back of the sofa would have mirrored the curve of the lamp table - particularly if  I'd closed that door...

This was a commission.

Wingback Armchair in Camira Wool

A 1960's wingback armchair reupholstered in Camira Blazer 100% wool.

Blazer is really just a very heavy duty felt so is great for getting neatly round all those curves - no weave to match and no need to cut anything on the bias.

I really love the splayed front legs on this- make it look very contemporary.

Although it doesn't have a maker's mark, I think the chair was made by Cintique because I recognise the spring unit.

But maybe these units were bought-in by various manufacturers in the UK from a central maker, a bit like in the car industry at the time (ever noticed how Lotus, Mini, Reliant, MG, British Leyland all have the same door handles?) - does anyone know if this is the case? These things are of great interest to me you know...

This was a commission.

Upholstered Crutches

My neighbour suffers from a bad back and has occasional use for a pair of crutches that were "very uncomfortable."

Not any more they're not.

I love my job.

Long footstool in Welsh wool

A long footstool in Melin Tregwynt Carew Smoke 100% lambswool

The legs are salvaged from a 1960's footstool and are very strong and sturdy.

A unique piece of handmade British furniture for just £95 - I think you need this, don't you?

Just a phone call and it's yours - 07719 801672

Fred Perry Love Seat in Bus Stop at Pen Y Fan

A 'love seat' upholstered in Fred Perry polo shirts now available for lovers in the bus stop on the A470 near Libanus opposite Pen Y Fan in the Brecon Beacons.

 

This road is very much on the scooter run route so there'll be plenty of Mod-types passing by in need of a place to stop for a fag and to punch each other on the arm a bit and maybe even look at the mountains. They'll like the Fred Perry angle I'm sure.

A 'love seat' is designed for two people sitting facing one another so that you may stare into one another's eyes. So bolting two dining chairs together in opposite directions is definitely a love seat and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

The chairs are covered with two very worn out Fred Perry polo shirts that were no longer smart enough to wear, even when painting the railings.

In fact there was paint on both so I had to cover up corners with opposite sleeves, giving this a bizarre sort of yin/yang look. This is probably a step too far for it to be tasteful but guerrilla upholstery is all about experimentation and once you've started, there's no going back.

I haven't been a full-on Mod since about 1981 but I have been wearing Fred Perry polo shirts (always plain, without the tipped collar) since I was nine years old. They're just the best. If this is advertising them, good. If Fred Perry feel like sending me a new shirt for this free advertising, I'm size medium in a slim fit.

The chairs came from a friend in Yorkshire who used to have a red Vespa that we would ride about on when we were at college. When we were kids, 'rat bikes' were the coolest - these are stripped-down scooters without farings and painted black. A friend of mine was killed on one of these. I put a black rat underneath the chair in memory of him.

#fredperry #guerrillaupholstery

Sofa in Melin Tregwynt Welsh wool

Two-seater sofa reupholstered in Melin Tregwynt semi-plain weave 100% wool.

Some furniture is just too busy to take a patterned fabric so adding a couple of scatter cushions makes all the difference.

I wasn't convinced about the scrolled plinth on this and was going to suggest to the customer that it was nothing a good piece of plywood couldn't put straight but by the time I came to it I had begun to rather like it and if nothing else, it was quite fun to upholster.

I don't often post before and after photos but this really take some beating eh?

This was a commission.

Slipper Chair in Melin Tregwynt wool

A 1940's (?) slipper chair reupholstered in Melin Tregwynt Mini Madison 100% Welsh wool.

I'm not sure if the inspiration behind the Mini Madison fabric design was Madison Avenue, but it's feasible isn't it? The squares bring to mind the New York street grid, to me at least.

Also makes me think of the painting Broadway Boogie Woogie by Piet Mondrian, what do you think?

Might have a job setting up a loom to weave this kind of geometry eh?

Anyway, I love Piet Mondrian and I love Melin Tregwynt and I love this chair, so I'm, you know, really quite happy.

This was a commission.

Art Deco shell-back sofa in Bute tweed

A 1920s two-seater reupholstered in Bute tweed.

Super-wide arms with some serious curves.

And an unusual back that I'm calling a shell-back because of the shape but technically it's just stitched panels with piping rather than the fluted back you'd expect.

And another knockout tweed fabric from Bute.

This was a commission.

Laura Ashley Sofa

A 1990's laura Ashley sofa reupholstered in, wait for it... Laura Ashley fabric.

Laura Ashley make great quality furniture, there's no doubt about it. And their fabric is good to work with too - all 17 metres of it.

This was a commission.

Bus Stop Chair at Simpson Cross, Pembrokeshire.

This chair now available to bus travellers on the A487 at Simpson Cross, Pembrokeshire.

A tricky one to photograph this; the sun blasting off the tin roof and me blindly backing into impatient oncoming traffic.

Here's a safer but no less clear angle. The photos don't convey how well colour-coordinated the chair is with the bus stop walls. Despite appearances, this isn't a random thing you know. I don't fix up a chair and drive around looking for a bus stop. It's premeditated. You know, researched and ting.

Here's the chair. A 1980's generic dining chair that I wombled from my local tip; cleaned, painted and reupholstered in a piece of damaged wool fabric from Melin Tregwynt - it's their Mondo Sage in case you were wondering. I hope someone who uses this bus stop works there, it's about 20 mins away at Castlemorris. You never know eh?

I pinned a plastic sheep to it because a) I had one and b) well it's a wool fabric innit.

Get it?

Knew you would.

Victorian Club Chair in silk damask

A mid Victorian club chair reupholstered in Sanderson silk damask.

This is a huge chair. It has something of the American automobile about it don't you think?

This was a full, down-to-the-wood restoration with traditional upholstery throughout and it's nice to use a very traditional fabric every once in a while.

This was a commission.

Arts & Crafts side armchair in Welsh wool

An Arts & Crafts/Art Nouveau armchair reupholstered in Melin Tregwynt Luna wool.

This type of chair is very difficult to date or really pin down to a particular style so I'm hedging my bets and falling between two styles; it has features of both.

It's a highly stained and polished beech frame with walnut arms (I think). The seat curve is really wonderful and gives it a rustic Welsh look, almost stick-chair like.

Elsewhere the turned and carved stiles and decorative splat are all over the place, and I love furniture to be all over the place, particularly when it's as elegant as this.

The seat was reupholstered with traditional horse hair and covered in an ace geometric Welsh wool from Melin Tregwynt. Somehow the busy fabric works on a chair with so much existing detail, I think it's because the chair is so fine/dainty. The whole thing is hand-stitched to a tacked edge piping - tricky to line up but great when you get it right.

You could own this for £150. All that for £150 you ask? Yes I say. Yes.

And still they all scurry off to Ikea. Ho hum.

This chair is for sale.

Tub Armchair in Bute Ramshead Fabric

A tub armchair reupholstered in Bute Ramshead fabric

A customer found this chair on the dark streets of London and, unable to come home without it, dragged it through the streets and up a few flights of stairs to her flat. Having contacted me through her family who live nearby she committed it to a 400 mile round trip in the middle of which I reupholstered it in her choice of Bute fabric.

The ever-wonderful Bute Fabrics drafted in the ever-diverse Timorous Beasties  and somehow managed to find a way to weave a ram's head repeat into a piece of cloth - how on earth did they do that?

Although it was found in London, I think the chair might be French because it had non-British conical springs and (among various British things) I found French Francs and an unsmoked Gitanes stuffed down the back.

And no, I didn't smoke the cigarette - I don't smoke non-filters man.

This was a commission.

Ash Milking Stool in Eleanor Prichard wool fabric

Hand made ash milking stool in Eleanor Pritchard Totley fabric

Ace the spoke-shaved legs

For Sale - £70 - probably best you don't sit on it to milk any cows