Festival of Upholstery
At one point, during the third and final talk of Day 1 of the Festival of Upholstery, I turned to my companion and said, “I can’t believe how fast the day has gone! When I used to go to corporate conferences for work they always really dragged.”
“Yeah, but this is actually interesting!” they replied.
Ditching the day job and trying to flip your hobby and side-hustle into a profession that pays the bills is equal parts exciting, fun and terrifying. One of the most obvious challenges for doing this is, ‘yer on yer own kid’!
Being in charge of everything is, kind-of the point of setting up your own business but that doesn’t mean it’s all fun, fun, fun. There are challenges and barriers and things you’ve not thought of. Hearing from people with experience of taking a similar journey is the most obvious way of fast-tracking your way to running a successful upholstery business. So, the Festival of Upholstery seemed a ‘must attend’ event.
I finished my last ever admin job in April 2026 and left the NHS to set up my own upholstery business, ‘Upholstery by Vanessa’. Since then, I’ve trained at the AMUSF accredited Oxford School of Upholstery, purchased equipment, had great advice and support from other local upholstery and expanded my client base.
I hoped that attending the Festival of Upholstery would help me accelerate development of the business and make some new connections with suppliers and other upholsterers. It didn’t disappoint!
Here are my 5 top takeaways from attending the Festival of Upholstery:
The upholstery industry feels collaborative and collegial, rather than competitive. Obviously, everyone still wants to win new business but there is a strong sense of sharing lessons learned, both in the craft and the business.
You won’t get anywhere without self-worth and self-value. Everything from how you reach out to new customers, marketing your services, pricing them and delivering the work starts with self-belief. The adage, “whether you think you can do something, or you think you can’t, you’re probably right”.
Pricing is key. Profit is not a dirty word. If you don’t get this right, you don’t have a business. You will price up lots of jobs that won’t get commissioned because the customer decides they are too expensive for them. This doesn’t mean the pricing was wrong. Sometimes people have no idea what things cost.
There is no right and wrong way for the craft, or the business, of upholstery. Some approaches have worked well for lots of people but it’s OK to find what works best for you and do your own thing.
“Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.” Everyone – even the fabulously talented people doing demo’s at the Festival – unpick things, re-do things and deviate from their original plans. Producing excellent work is important; how you get there, less so.
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6. (If I allow myself a number 6 it would be ‘don’t take accountancy advice from your hairdresser’! 😊 )
Overall, a very valuable experience and time well spent. For me, it was the right blend of reassurance and challenge. Building confidence and learning new things and finding your tribe! See you next year!
