Sneak-Peek

Ever since seeing this image of the now-famous Proust Geometric armchair, I've been looking forward to playing with multi-coloured legs.  The time has now come, and the Wingchair currently on the workbench has already got her important bits done.  Here's a sneak-peak:

And here are the fabrics I'm using. The main one is a vintage Indian Kantha quilt, with the co-ordinating (eh? did I really use that word?) one is a heavy cotton also recently brought back to Oz from India by Bev, at Bev's Remnant Warehouse in Alexandria.





Watch this space!

Pouffy makeover

Just finished the makeover of this sad old pouffy. 

The pictures tell the story.

The fabric chosen by the client is from cloth fabric, and is called Rough Rose. It's printed on a heavy-weight natural hemp.

OLD BUS DEPOT MARKET THIS WEEKEND

Miss Snupeson and I are packing up the truck and heading south to Canberra again this weekend for our 2nd stall at the excellent Old Bus Depot Market at Kingston.

For those of you who've not yet discovered the delights of the Canberra institution, this market is a special treat!  

• Great atmosphere (live, fun music), 
• only top-notch crafts (there's a serious application process potential stall-holders must pass),
• fresh local produce and delicacies,
• great food, and coffee, on the premises,
• easy parking,
• undercover (it's housed in the huge, historic old bus depot),
• in an interesting area, adjacent to the galleries, old parliament house and next door to the fabulous Canberra Glass Works.

the latest Wingy

Rapt! feels very honoured to be part of all this, and to reward any of our blog followers who visit the stall this weekend, with a 10% discount off anything on the stall (other than wingchairs - sorry!).

Dates we'll be there prior to Christmas are:

• this Sunday 14th October
• Sunday 18th November
• Saturday 8th December
• Sunday 9th December

Movie Premier

Here at Rapt! we take Quality Control very seriously.

We consider ourselves very fortunate, therefore, to have the services of one of the best QC professionals in the business on our team - Harriet Snupeson. Miss Snupeson has been honing her craft over many, many years, and this movie shows not just how high a level she has attained, but also the personal costs of this often gruelling work.

Note: no animals were harmed in the making of this movie.

Rapt on Facebook

Well, dear reader, I'm slightly ashamed to admit I've finally gone over to the Dark Side.
Having for years been staunchly disinterested in the whole facebook shebang, I'm now well and truly hooked.

A few weeks ago I set up a facebook business page for Rapt!, and since then have been thoroughly enjoying it and am finding it a tremendously useful marketing and networking tool.
If you haven't seen it yet, please do have a look. You don't have to have a facebook account yourself to look at business sites... even if the site asks you to  log in, you can ignore that.
Simply do a search for the business you want to visit from your normal web browser (e.g.: facebook rapt upholstery)  NOT from within facebook itself.

Unfortunately putting the facebook icon/link on my own homepage has eluded me to date... one of these days I'll figure it out to make it easy, meanwhile here's the link.

Why should you bother, I hear you (non-facebookers) ask?

Well... even if I'm biassed... I do believe it's a great way of sharing audience-specific info. All the stuff I post about will be highly relevant to anyone who is already reading this site, or has similar interests to me. i.e.: fabrics, current home furnishing trends, beautiful upholstery, creative women, furniture restoration, local business.  Whenever I see or read something relevant online I can share it via my facebook page a lot more easily than writing one of these posts, so you'll see and learn a lot more than just my ramblings.

Go on... have a look!

New Shop

Rapt! now has its very own online shop, complete with shopping cart.
Payment is either by Paypal or credit card.
Being brand new, products are still being added but it won't be long before it's fully loaded.
Please go to the SHOP tab at top of this page to have a look, or just click here if you're really lazy (only kidding!).

Rapt! takes Canberra by storm

Our first 'proper' market event yesterday went fantastically well.  It was at the Old Bus Depot Market in Canberra, which I reckon has to be one of the best markets in Australia. 
It's mostly undercover, in an interesting historic building (the old bus depot!) which makes for a much easier experience all round than outdoor markets.

Jam-packed full of interesting stalls, mostly top-end crafts, but also a wide variety of delicious food goodies and home-grown produce. The atmosphere is terrific, with a variety of live music performers going throughout the day, and a very friendly vibe from visitors and stall-holders alike.

Purple wingchair & matching footstool sold

I'm planning on attending monthly, but with the Christmas trading period coming up (very, very busy) I'm not sure which dates in Nov and Dec I'll be attending.  However, I am booked in for October (Sunday 14th) and have taken a double-stall based on yesterday's success - so will have much more on offer. 

Draft dodgers ($12.50ea) sold like hotcakes

New Product - 3 panel room divider ($395.00)

Retrospect-ive Wingchair

Reason for the name of this post?
The fabric used on this latest wingchair is from the RETROSPECT collection by Warwick.

Not only are the colourways fantastic (lovely rich colours), the designs interesting and work well in combination with each other but - being 100% man-made textile (not my usual preference) - it's at the affordable end of the price spectrum.

Best of all though - is that all the fabrics in this collection contain more than 40% recycled plastics!  You definitely would not guess this by the feel, which is sumptuous and tactile.

Oh Suzani

Nothing like working to a deadline. My clients are going on hols tomorrow, and I set myself the deadline of getting their lovely old Grandmother chair (which actually belonged to his Grandfather*) finished before they left.

Little did I know I'd take so long - it had a few challenges along the way - mostly to do with the 'Traditional' upholstery required (which I've not done a lot of because it's so time-consuming). I met my deadline, but it was down to the wire.










Here's a little slideshow of the process:

                         (no reason for the choice of music, other than I love this song)

A few posts back I mentioned the fabric for this chair, which was chosen by the client. It's called a Suzani, which is a design originating in Central Asian countries (think the 'stans' - Khazakstan, Uzbekistan, etc.) Apparently this is the traditional design which brides there embroider for their dowries  (bedspreads, hangings etc). It's now widely used here in the west, and this particular fabric is made by Zoffany.

* I believe a Grandmother chair differs from a Grandfather chair in being armless.

Retro-revival

Here's the latest job off the workbench. Regular readers will recognise this pair of retro armchairs from the last post.  Here they are finished.

The job involved complete timber refinishing and reupholstery - apart from the seat cushions. These were my first 'sprung' cushions, a bit like mini mattresses (and weren't easy!).

(And just to remind you, here's the 'Before'.)

The timber, before (top) and after.

Miss Snupeson (Quality Control Officer) giving the lick of approval.

I'm pleased to say the client was absolutely delighted with the result. Here's a pic she sent of the chairs (purchased from eBay) in their new home. Pretty cosy eh?