Today we’d like to introduce you to Louise Cornick.
Louise, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I moved to the US from England almost seven years ago for my Husband’s work. I wanted to find a way to make some friends, so I signed up for an adult learning course in Upholstery at Foothills Adult school in El Cajon. I loved it from the very beginning, my teacher Tony Asaro had been there for many years and was an excellent teacher.
He became a friend and mentor over the next 6.5 years, but very sadly he passed away last year. When I found myself wishing to learn about upholstery using horsehair and fiber rather than modern foam, Tony openly admitted that he didn’t do it and he didn’t know anyone who could teach me. I tried to find someone myself, first locally and then further afield but it was becoming apparent that very few people within the US had these skills. So, I put my frustration to one side and continued my journey.
Once I had decided that upholstery was my future, I continued with my adult leisure class and signed up for the San Diego Continuing Education Upholstery Course which was a vocational course and spent the next few months trying to improve my skills as much as possible. My passion for upholstery in general, had led me to online social media forums and from there I began to realize that in Europe, and more frustratingly my own country of the United Kingdom, I could find experts teaching traditional upholstery techniques using horsehair.
I approached one of these experts from the UK, who was already teaching these skills in London, to see if he would come to the US, and more specifically San Diego and teach me. Fortunately by this time I had also managed to persuade a few other fellow students that this was something we all needed to learn and so finally two years ago, 12 local upholstery students were excited to spend four and a half days training with a British Master Upholsterer in the highly skilled art of Traditional Upholstery using horsehair, tacks, hammers and hand stitching.
The word got around on American upholstery social media forums about this small workshop, and I was amazed by how much interest there was for this type of education within the industry. I went on to run another three small workshops here in San Diego, and then finally I realized I needed to offer these courses across the country so that as many people as possible could have the opportunity to learn from talented Master Upholsterers from Europe.
In May 2018, I launched Upholstery Education, my mission being to offer excellent professional upholstery education to those who wish to learn. Unfortunately, the upholstery industry within the United States, is severely lacking in any type of formal training. Most colleges and further education facilities that were offering Upholstery training have closed due to lack of funding.
This year Upholstery Education is running two courses, one in San Diego which finished just last month, where we had seventeen Professional Upholsterers from Vermont, Minneapolis, Tennessee, Oregon, Florida and more training for six days with Three Master Upholsterers from the UK and France. Our other course in August is on the East Coast – Long Island New York, where we will have Four Master Upholsterers teaching their skills to 24 students from the US and even as far afield as Australia. We also offer small weekend workshops offering associated skills such as Passementerie (Tassel and Trims).
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There have been some struggles, building a website was probably my biggest one. I didn’t have the resources to pay for a professional web builder, so I had to do it myself. The learning curve for me personally was enormous, but now that it’s up and running it’s one of the things I am most proud of. It’s always the technical stuff that continues to be my biggest hurdle, but it’s all part of running a small business and I’m learning all the time!
Upholstery Education – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Upholstery Education provides excellent professional hands-on training in all aspects of the upholstery industry.
We specialize in Traditional Upholstery which uses materials like animal hair (horse, hog, and cow) coir, straw and hay, Hessians(burlap), linen scrims, wadding, etc., and is done by hand building each layer up. This practice is a highly skilled artisanal craft used in older pieces of furniture and antiques prior to the introduction of foam.
Upholstery Education is the only company in the United States offering structured courses and workshops in the very niche market of traditional methods. We cater to both professional and student upholsterers as well as any person who is just interested in working with their hands and learning from Master Craftsman.
Artists and sculptors can also use traditional upholstery methods to manipulate fibers with hand stitching to create wonderful three-dimensional shapes. Our tutors are highly experienced in all aspects of furniture conservation, preservation, modern, and antique and have worked on many fine pieces of furniture with historical and design importance both here in the United States and Europe.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Knowing that I am making a difference.
When one of our students contacts me to say “Thank you, for making this happen, thank you for this opportunity to train with these Master Craftsman” that makes me very proud.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.upholsteryeducation.com
- Phone: 619 678 0505
- Email: upholsteryeducation@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/upholsteryeducation/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/upholsteryeducation/
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