The nicest thing

Touch wood, a lot of happy coincidences have been happening to me recently. The studio move in has been delayed (not one of the aforementioned happy things) but outside of that, things seem to be slotting into place quite a lot. Still very busy from the shows, I have now got lots of 'Margate drawers' on the make and have had lots of wonderful interest from the press. A surprising amount of attention has come from blogs which I am really pleased about, its a great way to get feedback about the work etc (so thank you bloggers!).

It was only today I realised that I have only written one other time during the whole of September, a very poor effort on my behalf but hey - I am busy! At the moment I am working on 2 dressing tables, a cabinet, lots of drawers, two lampshades, four dining chairs and an arm chair. Now the arm chair is what I have come on to post about. This item in itself came to me through a lovely local guy who printed my business cards (a lesson in itself - always see what a guy up the road can do for you before you try anywhere else - you might be surprised with the results). This arm chair had floral cushions covering every inch of its frame, and these masked an original fake leather covering that had disintegrated in its 50 years of life on earth. Some others might have given up there, being in my possesion meant some others already had, but I (as usual) proceeded to strip the entire thing down to its wooden base and see what I could do with it.

I may be dragging this out quite a bit, but those who see the results on my site next week will agree that this is turning into a really gorgeous piece of furniture. I have tightened all of the original webbing on the base and only replaced what was needed. Now the seat of the chair has a brand new upholstery that I have made from patchworking tiny pieces of brown leather, a very lengthy process. In taking apart the base a little piece of paper fluttered out . . it was a G Plan label! Suddenly I was more in love with the armchair. Later a very dusty shilling rolled out too, dating back to 1956. It was all just TOO cute! A fifties G Plan wooden armchair that is getting the royal Margate treatment . . . I wonder if I'm going to be able to give this up . .

Back from Tent London.

What a week! Or couple of weeks really. I have not been anywhere near my blog for quite some time as the run up to Tent London was every bit as busy as I thought it would be. I was lucky enough to be featured in The Evening Standard, The Observer, The Metro and Grazia all during design week - press can be seen on the website, and had a brilliant interest from visitors to the stand. Thank you to everyone who took time to visit the show and even more time to talk to me. As much as I love people watching, the days still became very long!

Now that I am back and preparing to get into the new studio, a lot of time is being spent replying to emails, filling in orders, updating the site...and making new work! I have several orders for upcycled 'Margate drawers' already and looking forward to applying the look onto other styles of retro furniture too (enter dressing tables and sideboards!). Keep an eye on the site for any updates and email me if you would like any information on how to get a set for yourself! :D

I have posted the last picture taken of me at Tent London with the TalentZone sign (huge thing). I look tired and pleased and that is exactly how I felt - A great week.

Over and out.

Bye bye donkeys

I read an article in the Metro recently that had me slightly inscenced. This would be the free tube newspaper that takes me hours to find one without another person attached to - or sitting on - it. It was a teeny tiny paragraph which I tore out but lost very quickly as it rivaled a postage stamp in square footage. It described (as best as a text that size could) the recent end to donkey rides on Margate sea front, and so of course I was instantly interested. I looked up the story online when I got home and was pretty surprised that I had not heard of it before. Not only are the donkeys leaving the shoreline this summer, but Margate was the first resort to ever introduce donkey rides as seaside entertainment back in the 1890's!!! And now they are leaving. Margate's donkey man has his own completely understandable reasons for ending the rides, but it seems so sad to lose another part of our heritage from the local shoreline. There is talk of the council taking over the franchise but I have a very unfounded feeling that perhaps not a lot of good would come from that move. After all, surely a job such as that is one done for enjoyment and not for extreme, target-busting profit. So goodbye to the donkeys, for now. They say the deck chairs are next, due to a terrible summer and increased council rates. People (local or otherwise) don't utilise or respect the fantastic things we have available to us enough. Hopefully they will be back soon, and fronted by another enthusiast like the previous one!

On a lighter note, the website has been updated again today!