Diss-Coverings by Gibson Roullier, announces the launch of its handmade mini-chaise; each piece is manufactured from scratch by Diss-Coverings partners Mary Gibson and Rachel Roullier in their Norfolk workshop and upholstered using bespoke, hand-printed fabric featuring original wildlife images by Norfolk artist Mike Fenton.

“The level of detail that Mike achieves with his lino cuts is staggering. We knew that his prints would look fabulous transposed onto furniture fabric and ultimately a piece of furniture” says Rachel “..it was just a case of working with him and his partner Annette Rolston, the print

specialist, to ensure we had a balanced design for each panel of fabric and that the images were placed across each fabric seam in such a way so that once upholstered, the pattern would align – and perfectly! It was important to understand Annette’s printing process so that we knew what we could realistically achieve.”

“The chaise frame is solid, we have incorporated a reinforced box design for the base which also makes it reassuringly heavy and the board that we use is cut locally for us, Rachel and I then construct each chaise by hand in our workshop in Diss,” says Mary.

“We decided to manufacture our own chaise when a client brought one in for re-upholstering. It had a modern frame and came from a very well known high street interiors store and had basically been thrown together using softwood off cuts from an industrial pallet, they hadn’t even bothered to take out the large unwanted rusty nails!” tells Mary, “We were truly shocked, especially when we found out how much the customer had paid for it and here it was 2 years later looking incredibly tired.”

“After a lot of research, we hit the drawing board and did everything

ourselves from the initial technical drawings to working out the wood cuts, cutting the templates, figuring out best placement for drill holes and finally putting it together!  I knew those woodwork lessons at school would eventually have a use!” says Rachel. “Customers are more than welcome to come and see the base construction so that they know exactly what they’re purchasing. We also only use superior quality solid wood legs that come in a choice of colours, finishes or stains with chrome or brass castors.  High quality legs are essential, they are every bit as important as the choice of fabric,” says Mary.

The chaise can be commissioned directly from Diss-Coverings as a finished piece either with a Mike Fenton original wildlife design, or the customers own fabric. Alternatively, you could sign up as a student with the Diss School of Upholstery and learn to upholster one yourself, no previous upholstery experience necessary.

Background Information on Mary Gibson & Rachel  Roullier

With skills drawn from their previous careers; Rachel’s background in Event Management and Marketing has over the past 25 years seen her working around the globe on some of the world’s largest and most successful sporting and music events, whilst Mary’s career in Finance, Tax and International Property Management has seen her successfully managing commercial portfolios both in the UK and overseas; both felt they had the experience and business confidence to follow their creative hearts and set up on their own.

Diss-Coverings by Gibson Roullier, incorporating the Diss School of Upholstery was dreamt up after Rachel moved up to the Norfolk/Suffolk border from London and attended one of Mary’s upholstery classes.

“Diss is a fabulous historic market town,” says Mary…. ‘and probably one of very few in the country with a Corn Hall that is still in use and the local TW Gaze auction room sales draw a lot of interest, resulting in a steady stream of business for us, not only with commission work but with upholstery students. The locals are extremely savvy and when they see what they can purchase at the auctions they’re inspired, all they need is the know-how to reupholster a piece or apply a paint effect themselves, so we’re extremely fortunate in being located literally on the auction house doorstep.”

“The weekend upholstery course that we offer includes a walk up to the auction with us on Friday morning for one of the Bidder’s Bistro bacon sandwiches and we’ll show students what to look out for when bidding on a piece. It’s a really super weekend and you’ll take home your newly reupholstered piece on Sunday afternoon.” enthuses Rachel. “When I first moved up here from London, I couldn’t believe the bargains.”

“I’ve been upholstering full-time now for about seven years” says Mary, “I always wanted to make the leap away from Finance to working with textiles and upholstery. It’s definitely a challenge running your own business, particularly now that social media platforms play such an important part – finding the time to keep all your sites up to date is a full time job in itself, but its one that we acknowledge has to be done.”

“Having had a background in Marketing,” says Rachel “I knew that we needed to offer something unique in the world of upholstery in order to stand out. We feel our range of courses addresses our students dreams; rather than just offer a footstool or a simple seat, we let the student bring their own piece which can be really demanding on us at times as we’re jumping in between students all with different pieces, which is why we keep our classes small. But its also far more interesting for us as well because students sometimes bring in a style of chair that we’ve not seen before, so we are also continually learning as we teach.”

“And now with the introduction of our own handmade mini-chaises, we have a strong offering and we’re going to continue to think up more ideas involving paint, textiles, our beautiful Norfolk countryside and upholstery!”

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First Floor, 3 Hales Yard, Diss, Norfolk IP22 4AF

Tel: 01379 644 901 / 07766 832 472  / 07826 907 121

Email: springs@dissupholstery.co.uk

Website: www.dissupholstery.co.uk