Tuesday 30 September 2008

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 . .

2 comments:

Chris said...

What an interesting story to this all, and it's still developing. Can't wait to see the finished product :)

su said...

Hi Zoe, someone just told me about your work recycling old furniture. I just saw online. We have a dining table and 4 chairs, as well as a sideboard which is G-Plan that belonged to my husband's grandmother. It's in good condition, but not 'collector' perfect. I know it's a long shot (as our budget isn't huge) but, rather than sell it, I wondered if you did work on commission?
Kind regards,
Su