Armchair in Melin Tregwynt wool fabric

A 1990's Laura Ashley armchair reupholstered in Melin Tregwynt semi-plain gold 100% wool.

And very nice too

This was a commission

French Bedroom Chair in Melin Tregwynt fabric

A reproduction French-style bedroom char reupholstered in Melin Tregwynt Mondo Rose fabric

Produced for French/Welsh townhouse Maison Galles in Cardiff - I reckon we nailed the French/Welsh  aesthetic here don't you?

This was a commission

Art Deco Armchair in Bute Tweed

A home-made mahogany Art Deco armchair reupholstered in Bute tweed

Another of those projects that I really don't want to give back, this is a real beauty. Lovingly made by hand in someone's home workshop and fifty or so years later is bought by my customer for a tenner at a house clearance auction.

Maybe it was a bit tatty, but really, who could give this away? Imagine this is left behind by your grandad and he made it with his own hands, would you sell it? No neither would I. I'd rather have this than any design classic, maybe it doesn't quite have the cohesive style of the work of Aalto or Panton, but it's unique. In fact I bet either of those gentlemen would have this in their own houses too.

Look at the legs, they're planks. Just planks. But the angles, look at the angles.

And look at the joints on the arm, and the angles... OK I'll stop gushing now.

The fabric ain't bad either is it?

You could go looking for one of these yourself, go trawling around the auctions and antique shops. But you won't find one.
 

This was a commission

Victorian Armchair

Late Victorian armchair reupholstered in Ramshead by Bute Fabrics

An elegant little chair this, now even more elegant in this great fabric

I had great difficulty pinning the fabric down to the base of that turned arm because the rails had been modified and there wasn't enough room but some tacked-in laid cord did the job and some extra double piping covered it up

Nice eh?

This was a commission

Open Armchair in Melin Tregwynt wool

Period open armchair reupholstered in Melin Tregwynt Luna Berry 100% wool

This was a commission

Bus Stop Chair on the A4067 near Crai, Powys

This chair now available to bus travellers on the A4067 near Crai.

Thanks to Dan Mudford for the chair that he found abandoned on the street in London and which I painted and reupholstered with salvaged pieces of some terrific 1920s moquette from a sofa I reupholstered a few years back. 

I painted the chair with that chalk paint that everyone seems to rave about - that's a palaver innit? Coat after coat and still all the cracks remain. It reminded me of my favourite ever letter in Viz which read "Manufacturers of Dulux 'Once', I think the word you're looking for is 'twice' ".

I added a 'falling soldier' to the leg because no chair is really complete without one.

There's a cavity below the seat of this chair in which I think I wrote a secret message. As ever I'd had a few drinks while making the chair and now have no idea what it was. If you're passing, could you have a look and let me know? 

Many thanks.

Upholstery Course for Make It in Wales

I've started teaching some one-day upholstery courses for Make It in Wales upholstering milking stools in Welsh wool. The workshop is designed to cover many aspects of the traditional upholstery process and will leave you with a lovely item that I'm sure you'll be very proud of.

We ran the first course last year which was very successful as you can see above. The next courses are in Cardigan in June and September. Here's what we're doing.

 The stools are handmade in reclaimed ash by a local craftsman in my village. Each is unique.

We start by selecting fabric from my store of Welsh wool pieces that are small offcuts from my own upholstery projects. Some are vintage and some are new from Melin Tregwynt. I also have a few pieces from other British manufacturers including Bute and Sanderson, but critically they are all wool fabrics suitable for slip-stitching by hand.

We then make some piping and attach it to the stool top along with a hessian base.

Bridle-ties are stitched into the hessian and these are stuffed with genuine animal hair (horse/hog mix). This is then regulated to make a soft uniform seat.

Then we have the tricky business of centering the top fabric and pinning in place.

And then hand stitching the top fabric to the piped edge using an invisible slip-stitch with a curved needle.

The workshop is designed for complete beginners but will certainly teach new skills to crafts people at all levels. It's a busy day but I have it on good authority that it's 'very satisfying' and just think, you'll take home a splendid little stool that's hand-made (mainly by you) from 100% natural materials and made in the traditional way.

Sign up here

Go on.

Victorian Bolster-Back Chair in Welsh Wool

An 1883 bolster-back nursing chair reupholstered in Melin Tregwynt Mini-Madison wool.

Really unique looking chair this one. I'm calling it a 'bolster-back' chair for the scroll-type top that looks like a bolster. I googled 'bolster-back' and a couple of similar chairs popped up, so I'm happy with that. If anyone knows what they're really called please let me know.

The Melin Tregwynt fabric seems to really suit the chair - it's contemporary but with enough tradition to somehow pull it off. And the chair is all shape and not much detail so it can carry the pattern - something to consider when choosing a fabric.

This was very rickety when I first saw it. It came to me through cabinet-maker Jonathan Garrard who knocked it flat then put it all back together again.

And then I got my hands on it.

The leg detail and castors give a strong clue that this chair is from the late 1800s, but I'm going to stick my neck out and say this chair was made in 1883. In fact I reckon it was upholstered on April 21st of that year. How could I possibly know that? OK, see below - a piece of 'The London Reader' from that date. I found this along with the rest of the sweepings from the floor of that day (rags, thread, etc) - a common practice at the time.

And in case you were wondering, yes of course I put it back. Along with a note of my own, the date and of course a plastic soldier.

And why not eh?

This was a commission.

Push Me - Pull You Chair

This is the Push Me - Pull You chair. Two cut-down late 19th Century cane chairs joined together and upholstered in a period tapestry fabric.

This is what you might call design through experimentation. Originally intended as a guerrilla upholstery piece destined for a bus stop, my wife saw it and said 'I'm having that' and walked off with it.

So it sits in our dining room and is used as an extra dining chair, mainly by kids who don't mind not having a proper chair to sit on. A friend saw it and said 'ah, the Pushmi Pullyu, Doctor Doolittle would be pleased'.

The chairs came for the local tip. One had no front legs so the saw was required.

And some screws and batens to join them together.

The tapestry fabric was given to me by one of my neighbours and might be 100 years old but could easily be from the 1950s. Who knows. Who cares, it's ace.

This chair might be for sale if you can persuade my wife.

Good luck with that.

Bedroom Chairs in Charleston House fabric

A pair of late 19th Century bedroom chairs upholstered in Charleston House Grapes fabric.

These were originally cane-seat chairs found in the attic of one of my customer's houses. They were easy enough to adapt for upholstery with some jute webbing but the rails are quite slender so we just about got away with double piping on these. But it had to be piping - you can't go sticking braid over a pattern like this now can you?

The customer picked up half a metre of the fabric herself from Charleston House and there wasn't quite enough fabric to make two matching chairs so the pattern-match had to be randomised.

The fabric was designed by Duncan Grant in 1931. Grant was a prominent member of the Bloomsbury Group and a prolific painter and designer. Along with his (working) partner Vanessa Bell, and with input from the great Roger Fry, he established Charleston Farmhouse with its sort of English Country/Mediterranean cottage garden. It's my guess that this was the inspiration for this fabric, but I'm only guessing.

Here's Grant (left) with his sometime lover, economist John Maynard Keynes. Imagine how different Britain would be today if these people had really been allowed to flourish, certainly not in a floundering, unprincipled political environment that's for sure. These people had ideas. These are my kinda people.

Oh, and nice chairs too eh?


This was a commission.

#charlestonhouse #duncangrant #vanessabell #bloomsburygroup

Victorian Nursing Chair

A Victorian iron-frame chair reupholstered in Sanderson cut velvet.

A really fine specimen that I decided to shallow-button rather than deep-button because I didn't want to upset the geometry of the pattern.

Great shape on it eh?

This was a commission.