Using vintage fabrics to make your home beautiful
As a child I spent many happy days in the school holidays rummaging through the enormous armoire in which my Nana kept her extensive and beautiful fabric collection, delighting in the texture, design and smell, each piece redolent of history and craftsmanship. My mother gave me her old Singer sewing machine when I was a little older and I taught myself to sew.
Following the birth of my daughter, Marnie, I commissioned a chair to be recovered for her nursery and it lit a fire in me: I thought, "Why don't I just do it myself?".
I immediately enrolled on an upholstery course in Salisbury, taking a small hiatus for my son, Bruno, to charge into the world, and completed my training just as our little family moved to Amsterdam. 'Clark's Home for Furniture Improvement', an upholstery and soft furnishings studio, opened for business.
The 17th century saw Amsterdam become a vibrant cultural hub, and many of the achievements and advances of the time have lost none of their influence. Around each corner I found inspiration, from exquisite hand painted wallpaper in the Museum Van Loon to 800 years of incomparable art in the Rijksmuseum.
Returning to the Wiltshire countryside in 2016, I once again set up my sewing machine, this time in a converted coach house at the back of our beautiful Georgian home. It had been used as a workshop by a furniture restorer during WW2 and I like to think I’m carrying on the tradition in my own way.
My passion is to rework, rejuvenate and rethink vintage and antique fabrics, juxtaposing the old and new, to espouse the move away from mass production and encourage a more conscious way of furnishing.
My two French bulldogs, Agatha Christie and Enid Blyton, keep me company while I work.
Following the birth of my daughter, Marnie, I commissioned a chair to be recovered for her nursery and it lit a fire in me: I thought, "Why don't I just do it myself?".
I immediately enrolled on an upholstery course in Salisbury, taking a small hiatus for my son, Bruno, to charge into the world, and completed my training just as our little family moved to Amsterdam. 'Clark's Home for Furniture Improvement', an upholstery and soft furnishings studio, opened for business.
The 17th century saw Amsterdam become a vibrant cultural hub, and many of the achievements and advances of the time have lost none of their influence. Around each corner I found inspiration, from exquisite hand painted wallpaper in the Museum Van Loon to 800 years of incomparable art in the Rijksmuseum.
Returning to the Wiltshire countryside in 2016, I once again set up my sewing machine, this time in a converted coach house at the back of our beautiful Georgian home. It had been used as a workshop by a furniture restorer during WW2 and I like to think I’m carrying on the tradition in my own way.
My passion is to rework, rejuvenate and rethink vintage and antique fabrics, juxtaposing the old and new, to espouse the move away from mass production and encourage a more conscious way of furnishing.
My two French bulldogs, Agatha Christie and Enid Blyton, keep me company while I work.