Vintage Handmade Salvaged & Antique

Who’d have thought back in 1980 when I was painting my first piece of second hand furniture in bright red gloss (it was a unit to sit my record player on) that I would one day I would make it my business and be selling paint specifically created for furniture painting.

Although during the following years I continued to paint furniture for myself, I spent most of my working life as a School Business Manager.  Backed by Philip, in 2016 I decided to follow my passion and start my own business creating homewares and upcycling. In 2018 Philip and I took the opportunity to take on our shop at Heart of the Shires and I now have the great privilege of working with and supporting our traders and selling the things that they have created.

Moving on, we are taking on our second shop at The Bell Plantation which has meant that our daughter Faye has joined us to create a family business. What a lovely way to spend your days.

I was recently asked what my professional background was, and it gave me some pause for thought. What came to mind was ‘patchwork’; an odd collage of experiences threaded together by a love of art, history, religion and folklore. I trained in philosophy and fine art and had a subsequent career as a professional artist, during which time I secured a position as Lecturer in BA/MA Fine Art at the University of Central Lancashire. My artistic interests and pursuits have been many and varied; I’ve taught watercolour and life drawing classes to retired folk in Bedford, introduced university students to the weird world of video art, morris danced from Preston to Wigan, costumed an entire samba band and constructed ten-foot puppets to terrorise the residents of Hull. Currently, alongside developing new illustrative work, I’m deepening my yoga practice through teacher training. I’m delighted to be now joining the family business, and looking forward to seeing what opportunities develop from our new venture at the Bell Plantation. 

So, here I am back in the world of retail again, quite a few years after leaving it! I started as a 2nd Sales in a gentleman’s tailors and progressed to managing a pet shop, which was interesting.  We won’t go in to selling socks etc from a suitcase in busy shopping streets, one of my duties being to keep an eye out for the Old Bill.   The majority of my working life has been spent as a Weapons Engineer in the Royal Air Force and then the defence industry at major contractors, finishing up as Configuration Manager on the Foxhound programme.  However, it is great to be back dealing with the public and our traders, no two days are ever the same and certainly we are all kept on our toes.  It is also good to be working with the family and we are all excited at the prospect of our latest venture and the challenge of managing two outlets. 

And in case you were wondering where the name Margo&Evie came from .... they are our much loved Airedale Terriers.  

Although some of the  credit must go to Sir Terry Pratchett as they are in fact named after Discworld characters: Evie's full name being Mrs Evadne Cake (a small medium) and Margo is Lady Margolotta von Überwald (a vampire).

Considering  themselves to be the best dogs ever, it is only proper they should have the business named after them.  If they could read, they would want to know why they are mentioned last.

This gorgeous photo of them was taken by 

Caroline Allison Photography

It says it all that the only professional photograph of us all is of the dogs!