{"id":32318,"date":"2022-02-04T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-04T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.vintiqueupholstery.com\/?p=32318"},"modified":"2024-02-12T16:01:13","modified_gmt":"2024-02-12T16:01:13","slug":"an-interview-with-indya-hanlon-from-indya-creates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.vintiqueupholstery.com\/?p=32318","title":{"rendered":"An Interview with Indya Hanlon from Indya Creates"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

When I embarked on my upholstery journey over 10 years ago, I knew hardly anyone who was an absolute beginner like me. Since I launched my online guide to getting into upholstery Virtual\u00a0Vintique: Upholstery Uncovered<\/a>, with its own private online community, I\u2019ve loved hearing all the stories of\u00a0other people\u2019s pathways into this incredible profession.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

This week on the blog, I catch up with\u00a0Indya\u00a0Hanlon of Indya Creates<\/a>. Starting out as a\u00a0nurse, she\u00a0describes her\u00a0journey\u00a0as\u00a0circling\u00a0back to the workshop\u00a0where her father spent many years as an\u00a0upholsterer. I caught up with her to find out more\u2026<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Hi\u00a0Indya. Tell me a bit about you\u2026<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Hi! Thanks so much for inviting me to be on your blog, it really is an\u00a0honour! I’m\u00a0Indya, I’m 35 and from Northern Ireland, where I live with my two\u00a0doggos, Harley and\u00a0Bella.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"Headshot<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

You\u2019ve recently got into\u00a0surface design.\u00a0Have you always followed a creative path in life?<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

So, I’ve always been a doodler and a painter,\u00a0but as far as a creative career path goes, it started and ended with my art GCSE.\u00a0I\u00a0actually went\u00a0to\u00a0uni\u00a0and became a nurse, and art fell away in my life until I took some\u00a0watercolour\u00a0classes about\u00a0seven\u00a0years ago and the creativity was reignited.\u00a0I discovered surface design in 2017 and was absolutely hooked. The endless possibilities within this sphere got me dreaming of having a career doing this but due to my personal circumstances at the time, surface design and\u00a0art were stuck in the background.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

My circumstances changed in 2019 when I left my marriage. As I\u00a0rediscovered my freedom, I realised that\u00a0I had the power to make my own path in life, and more than ever was filled with the conviction that life is just TOO short to spend it doing things that don’t fulfil you and light you up. Fast forward to now and I’m\u00a0self-employed with a fledgling creative business, after leaving my nursing job in October 2021.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

How did you get into upholstery?<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Upholstery is a family thing for me. My\u00a0dad owned his own upholstery business before I was even a twinkle in his\u00a0eye\u00a0and I have fond memories of being in the workshop as a youngster.\u00a0I didn’t take an interest in learning upholstery until recent\u00a0years\u00a0and I\u00a0wish I had when I was 16. However, I also believe that life is too short for regrets and I’m just happy that my journey has circled back to the workshop now.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

\u201cMy\u00a0dad owned his own upholstery business before I was even a twinkle in his\u00a0eye\u00a0and I have fond memories of being in the workshop as a youngster.\u201d<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

What appeals to you about upholstery and how does it fit the skills you\u2019d picked up in\u00a0your\u00a0former career?<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Looking back to my time nursing, I can\u00a0definitely see\u00a0different qualities it developed in me that are good for upholstery, like resilience, problem solving and being no stranger to hard work. Most notably though, is the desire to have a\u00a0positive impact on people. It’s why I became a nurse and that part of me hasn’t changed, I’ve just found a different way to do it. I believe we all deserve a space that makes us happy and to be able to contribute to that in tangible ways with art and upholstery absolutely delights me.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"paint<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Tell us about your dad\u00a0\u2013\u00a0a fellow upholsterer\u2026<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In short, my dad is a total legend. He can turn his hand to anything from cars to computers, and he was also an on-call firefighter until his 50s. He learned\u00a0upholstery as a teen before going out on his own and I feel so lucky to have him to learn from.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

How did you go about learning upholstery, what\u00a0is\u00a0your\u00a0plan for\u00a0training?<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

As of yet, I haven’t done any courses or classes and at this point, learning in the workshop with my own projects is working for me but that is likely to change as time goes on.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Having decided to buy the Virtual Vintique guide, how did it meet your expectations and what was your biggest takeaway from it?<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I bought the guide because I was considering whether upholstery was something I could take on as more than a hobby, I wanted to know exactly what would be involved in getting formal training and working as an upholsterer. It did not disappoint!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Virtual Vintique is an absolute wealth of information, presented in a really approachable way. My biggest takeaway from it is that I can really see how upholstery lines up with my creativity and love for pattern and colour; and my values of reusing and rescuing items, making them beautiful and ready to be enjoyed for many more years to come.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I also love the Facebook community and your house tour.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

What sort of upholstery projects have you attempted so far and what have you learned?<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The main things I’ve done so far by myself have been drop in seats and stools, and then helping my dad with larger projects like sofas and armchairs. One of my happiest moments so far was being asked to design and make a set of scatter cushions (on my second day of self-employment) and then having the customer message me and tell me she absolutely loves them and smiles every time she looks at them. That’s exactly the result I want to achieve with my\u00a0work\u00a0and I’ll be chasing that high with every project!\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

As for challenges\/learning,\u00a0everyday\u00a0in the workshop is full of these because every piece of furniture has its own story and will present you with its own set of challenges when it gets to the workbench. I had a real big learning curve recently when I stripped down a\u00a0wingback armchair. It was the first one I’d stripped by myself, and boy, it was hard\u00a0work\u00a0but it was the best way to get a real understanding of how it’s all put together!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

You did\u00a0an absolutely brilliant\u00a0piano stool makeover\u00a0recently\u00a0Tell us about that\u2026<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Oh, I absolutely loved that! I got that wee stool from the charity shop for five shiny\u00a0pounds\u00a0and it was definitely a bit ratty but it was solid and just needed some TLC. The seat pad had nothing salvageable except the wood itself, so I put some new foam on and then covered it with velvet that I had printed with my own design.\u00a0When I\u00a0put it all back together, I had\u00a0the perfect little accent stool for my living room.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Here’s a closer look at\u00a0Indya\u2019s\u00a0piano stool project<\/a>:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\"An<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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\"Indya<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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\"Upholstered<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

What are your hopes for the future?<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

My long-term plan is to have my art licensed within various\u00a0industries\u00a0but an absolute dream would be to have it available on upholstery fabric. In the short term,\u00a0this means continuing to make lots of art – I’m currently working on a pattern collection inspired by my motorcycle\u00a0trip along Route 66 in 2019, and another upholstery\/soft furnishing specific pattern collection.\u00a0I am excited to see how this grows alongside the upholstery, as I am in quite\u00a0a unique position to be able to design fabric as well as use it for my own projects… I’m pretty much living the dream!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Finally\u00a0Indya, do you have any top tips for anyone else thinking of upholstery as either a hobby or a career\u2026<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n