Demonstrations, Advice and Activities Throughout the Festival
Sammy’s Foundation: Heritage Skills Creating New Opportunities
Sammy’s Foundation will return to update Festival visitors on the inspiring progress of its work.
The charity provides high-quality training in skilled heritage crafts for driven young adults with complex neurological conditions. Its aim is to create meaningful routes into employment while helping to safeguard specialist crafts that are at risk of being lost.
Booking Required:
Event Days:
no
Both Days
Better Photography and Social Media with Royal Touch
Nikki from Royal Touch Photography will be photographing the Festival while also offering practical advice on business photography, content creation and social-media management.
Royal Touch provides business and event photography alongside social-media services.
Booking Required:
Event Days:
no
Both Days
Meet the British Furniture Association
Find out how the British Furniture Association represents, connects and supports companies working across the UK furniture industry.
The BFA promotes British furniture manufacturing and offers membership to manufacturers as well as suppliers of components, services and other support to the trade.
Booking Required:
Event Days:
no
Both Days
Fire Regulations and Material Testing with SATRA
Specialists from SATRA Technology Centre will be available to answer questions about furniture fire regulations, flammability testing and the development of upholstery material combinations.
SATRA provides testing, research and technical support across the furniture and consumer-products industries. Its furniture expertise includes the flammability requirements affecting domestic and contract upholstery.
Booking Required:
Event Days:
no
Both Days
Celebrating Excellence in Upholstery
The Festival will host the judging of the Worshipful Company of Upholders’ Double Distinction Awards, alongside awards connected with the Association of Master Upholsterers and Soft Furnishers and the Guild of Traditional Upholsterers.
Booking Required:
Event Days:
no
Both Days
Passementerie Weaving with Helen Fry
Returning exhibitor Helen Fry will demonstrate the intricate craft of handwoven passementerie.
Helen is a Shropshire-based hand weaver and textile designer who creates decorative braids using luxurious natural yarns. Her work combines traditional passementerie techniques with contemporary colour, texture and design.
Booking Required:
Event Days:
no
Both Days
Practical Business Support
Running an upholstery business requires far more than excellent practical skills. Throughout the Festival, visitors will also be able to access approachable advice about starting, managing and developing a creative business.
Booking Required:
Event Days:
no
Both Days
Help Shape the Future of Repair with We Are Repairs
We Are Repairs will be carrying out research at the Festival—and they want to hear from professional upholsterers and repairers.
We Are Repairs is creating a UK-wide online directory designed to connect owners of broken household items with skilled local repair businesses.
Booking Required:
Event Days:
no
Both Days
Ask Me Anything — No Shaming and No Judging
Have you ever had an upholstery question that felt too basic, too complicated or simply too embarrassing to post on a public forum?
Visit the Festival’s Ask Me Anything stand and speak privately and informally to experienced upholsterers and visiting specialists.
Booking Required:
Event Days:
no
Both Days
Visit the Festival of Upholstery Workshop
Step inside our working upholstery workshop and explore ideas for creating a safer, more organised and more efficient workspace.
The workshop will include examples of storage, tool organisation, equipment placement, materials handling, waste separation and practical solutions for small businesses where every inch of space matters.
Booking Required:
Event Days:
no
Both Days
Furniture Repair with Ollie from OP Woodcraft
Following the speedy sell-out of his Festival course, Oliver “Ollie” Piepereit of OP Woodcraft will continue sharing his furniture-repair knowledge through live demonstrations.
Watch Ollie tackle some of the knocks, damaged finishes and structural problems regularly uncovered when stripping upholstered furniture.
Booking Required:
Event Days:
no
Both Days
Live Leather Care and Repair
Discover how professional products and techniques can clean, protect and restore leather upholstery.
Whether you are dealing with everyday wear, surface damage, colour loss or leather that simply needs some careful maintenance, stop by for practical guidance before reaching for the wrong product.
Booking Required:
Event Days:
no
Both Days
Upholstering with Woven Horsehair Fabric
Greg Cuppit-Jones will demonstrate how to work with genuine woven horsehair fabric supplied by John Boyd Textiles.
Come and see the fabric being used, ask questions and gain the confidence to consider horsehair cloth for a future commission.
Booking Required:
Event Days:
no
Both Days
Traditional Upholstery with Armand Verdier
Watch Armand Verdier demonstrate the control, precision and hand skills involved in traditional upholstery. This is a valuable opportunity to observe an exceptionally experienced craftsperson at close quarters.
Booking Required:
Event Days:
no
Both Days
The Fly-Tipped Sofa That Brought a Village Together
Photographer Alex Elton-Wall from Lydbrook will join us to share the remarkable story of the Lydbrook Lounge: an abandoned sofa which became an unlikely village landmark and the setting for portraits of more than 150 local residents.
Booking Required:
Event Days:
no
Both Days
Rush Seating and Caning with Sonia White
Sonia White of White Bespoke returns to the Festival to demonstrate the traditional skills of rush seating and chair caning.
Booking Required:
Event Days:
no
Both Days
Bring Your Scissors — On-Site Sharpening Throughout the Festival
Classic Sharpening Service will be on site on both days of the Festival.
Bring along your hardworking upholstery scissors, shears and snips and have them professionally sharpened. Charges apply.
Booking Required:
Event Days:
no
Both Days