The fashion designer-turned-ceramicist Henry Holland has a novel way of shopping for furniture for his home in east London.
Using the “wishlist” function on the second-hand furniture marketplace Vinterior, he and his husband David shortlist items they like, by room. Their tastes don’t always align, so then: “we each go in and delete the things we don’t like, and what we’re left with is what we end up buying,” explains Holland.
He has an affection for vintage furniture – in fact, he grew up surrounded by the stuff. His late mother, Stephanie, was an antiques dealer who filled her French château with treasures from brocantes.
“When it came to decorating my first rented studio flat, I’d go to my mum’s with a van and bring back the leftovers – there was a barn full of them,” he recalls.
Hiring a van is still something Holland occasionally does if making a pilgrimage to Sunbury Antiques Market, but it requires planning and a 4am start.
The last time, he returned practically empty-handed; which is why these days he uses websites such as Vinterior, which was founded by Sandrine Zhang Ferron, a vintage fan herself, who left her previous job in finance to launch it in 2014. Today, it collates inventory from 10,000 antiques dealers.
Ferron Zhang and Holland have pooled their talents to work together on a small collection of six pieces of vintage furniture (available from 6th August), which Holland has upcycled using his own-design fabrics for the British textile house Harlequin: think graphic checks, nostalgic archival prints and marbled patterns.
Here, he and Zhang Ferron share their tips for how to make well-loved classics work in a contemporary setting – and how old furniture can be reinvigorated with a little imagination and a skilled upholsterer.
What to look for when buying vintage
“I love pieces that have a story, and I like imagining what kind of homes they’ve been in,” says Holland.
When searching, he will look past questionable handles or a dated fabric choice: “Don’t get bogged down with the detail of existing pieces – focus on the shape and silhouette because you can change everything else,” he advises.
He keeps an open mind by searching broadly by item, rather than by era.
For example, while his husband might suggest a “1930s-style wall cabinet” for storage, Holland will simply trawl through wall cabinets as a category. “Avoid being too prescriptive, because there’s such an amazing range of stuff out there that can really spark inspiration,” he says.
Holland and Zhang Ferron agree that any marks form part of an item’s charm and add to its story – but also, that taking accurate measurements is crucial. “Remember, these aren’t flatpack pieces,” Zhang Ferron points out.
How to choose fabrics for a new look
Reupholstery is an obvious way to update a pre-loved item and take it into the 21st century.
“A new fabric brings new energy and you can fall in love with a piece all over again,” says Zhang Ferron. While buying second-hand is better for the planet, it’s often better value for money, too, so there might be more left in the kitty to indulge in an extra-special fabric.
A pair of angular Art Deco armchairs from Holland’s wishlist got what he calls “the Battenburg treatment” with a graphic chequerboard fabric, while a pair of bentwood chairs by the mid-century designer Jindrich Halabala lent themselves to an abstract floral pattern rich in movement.
“If anything is rounded or organic and your fabric has straight lines, you’ll lose a lot of the pattern unless you have an incredible upholsterer who is able to create lots of darts,” warns Holland.
The application of piping (a narrow, decorative tube of fabric used as a trim) also requires consideration and can be just as dazzling as a print: on a pair of diminutive footstools, green piping makes the rounded edges pop. As Holland puts it: “Clever piping can be a great way to hide a lot of sins.”
Other clever nips and tweaks
Reupholstery doesn’t only apply to chairs and ottomans: inspired by the plush, fabric-covered doors in his own dressing room, Holland applied a little graphic magic to a compact teak wardrobe. “The cubic-shape handles worked really well with the chequerboard fabric,” he says. Panels interlined with wadding were created and simply stuck onto the existing doors.
At home, Holland has also enjoyed success reinvigorating the tops of side tables and storage units with offcuts of marble – he had one made for a 1920s dentist cabinet given to him by his mother.
“It’s a relatively inexpensive trick to make something look much more expensive,” he says.
He has also been known to have wooden furniture lacquered by a local car garage. Creating a densely pigmented, high-shine finish, traditional lacquering requires many coats, and lacquered pieces can fetch thousands. For a few hundred pounds, professional spray-painting achieves a similar transformation of an old piece.
Trust in the experts
When it comes to working with an upholsterer, “share as much as you can about how you plan to use the piece and your lifestyle: for instance, if you have children, or what the rest of the room looks like,” says Zhang Ferron.
When recovering a battered armchair, she had a skinny stripe in mind, but her upholsterer suggested a chunkier alternative in a weightier finish and she is thrilled with the result.
“I’d have never thought of it and I learnt a lot,” she says.
Holland approaches the process just as collaboratively: “Let your upholsterer give you ideas; they will know the best way to execute something,” he says.
What to avoid
Holland is wary of trends: “There was such a massive explosion of mid-century modern pieces a while back. If you buy into current trends, it won’t look timeless,” he warns.
Zhang Ferron suggests leaving leather pieces as they are, “because the cracks are part of the charm and that is hard to replicate.”
Holland has first-hand experience of swapping out red leatherette fabric on a 1950s armchair for a patchwork of tapestries and isn’t convinced it was a good move.
“In hindsight, the two styles were quite opposing – a graphic shape and traditional tapestry – and I’m not sure I’m as in love with it as much now,” he reflects.
The collection
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