About Elizabeth
The back story
My love of ‘upholstery as art’ started way back in the 70’s when my Dad, a highly skilled upholsterer, was working on everything from vintage cars to aircraft. But the thing that fascinated me most were the interiors he created for the local surfers’ panel vans. Completely counter intuitive to a life of sand and salt, what they wanted most was faux fur interiors. I loved the fact they were turning panel vans into works of art inside and out, as dad customized their interiors with crazy colours and textures.
Dad’s workroom for me was a wonderful place full of unusual bits and pieces and needless to say, there was a fair bit of faux fur lying around. So I asked him to make something for me out of it and he made a furry little pouffe. It was mad and I thought it was brilliant. It had so much personality and became a real conversation piece. No one else had anything like it.
Dad had created a handmade range of pouffes for a local department store, but this was different, and it inspired me to draw ideas for other unique pouffes.
I’ve always dabbled in art – from a fashion design course to life drawing and an introduction to sculpture too. I loved them all but it’s designing my pouffes that I enjoy the most. Now that my kids are grown, I finally have time to focus on making those designs and exploring new ideas.
To my absolute joy we discovered one of dad’s original pouffes recently in my brother’s storage shed. I had thought they were lost forever, so it’s a thrill to have it. I also use a lot of dad’s tools now and I think he’d be chuffed to know.
Behind the scenes
When I’m making my pouffes I often find I’m doing something I saw my father do – but with my spin on it. So, although I consider my pouffes more art than furniture, they are hand crafted to endure.
My creations are made with a solid wooden base, footstool foam, covered in calico, and then over that goes the finished ‘dressing’. Most designs are a mix of materials, faux fur, denim, feathers and even faux leaves and PVC. And I like a bit of hand sewing so there’s a bit of that too in some of the designs. Some of my designs have wheels, or legs of some sort, and some sit comfortably flat on the floor.
I finish the bases with felt or vinyl or another fabric depending on the design. And you’ll see I stud the bottom with coloured tacks. I include one differently coloured tack each time. It’s my way of celebrating the odd one out 😊.
I enjoy the whole process from sketching ideas, to cutting foam and wood bases, but I really love it when the whole design comes together.
It’s good to mention here that my creations are more art than upholstery. They are not designed to be sat or stood upon, but I do make them suitable for putting your feet up. And because they are hand made they come with little idiosyncrasies like an out of place stitch.
I hope you enjoy them, whether feet up or not.
The pouffes that live with us
Thong Ya No.1 and Poo Pouffe have been part of our household for years and take pride of place in our lounge room.
You can imagine Poo Pouffe gets a startled reaction every time (I love watching people lean in for a closer look).