Keiko's Tiny Workshop

Back to my studio✨️
Back to the chair making ❤️


#大きい椅子造ってます

Having to stay in Tokyo a bit longer than expected due to my mum's poor health.
Amazingly I have just found this lovely shoe making workshop very close to where she lives 👞💕💫
So I'm now attending trial lessons and learning how to make children leather shoes.
It’s so enjoyable to learn a new skill with such fantastic teachers and lovely shoe makers!
I also love tea time there☕️❤️

Happy 90th birthday to my mum🎉🎂💕
This big quilted throw was our corabrative project for the last year✨️
Her sashiko stitch activity is still going, and she is working hard every day😊!! Now I am devising a new quilt project with her!

The Blue Chair
This little armchair is a family heirloom from Mother to Daughter. Its large seat springs suggest to me that the frame could be 30's Deco style🤔
It has a beautiful curved line from the back to the arms.
Its new owner chose a blue fabric as she wanted to keep the original chairs identity. I love it💙!!
It is always a real pleasure to work on furniture with so much sentimental value💫

Mid century Teak dining chair by
EON (Elliotts of Newbury)

This chair was the same age as me!!
I often find some near-treasure inside old chairs...
This time, it was the manufacturing date. While stripping the chair, a little note with a manualy stamped date appeared in the crumbles of the original latex foam, which was very deteriorated and falling apart. It suddently made me feel quite conscious about my age 😅
I also found a manufacturer logo. EoN was a British furniture company which employees were 90% women in the early 20th century✨️
Curiously they also manufactured aircrafts during war, again with an all-women workforce.

Both chairs' seat and back are made of slightly concave plywood with a beautiful teak frame. Good old hard wood furniture !
The chairs are now well "pumperd" with new foam and lifted by the gorgeous wool jersey fabric @kvadrat.
As I finished the job, I thought I would now take care of myself, to keep going for the next chapter of my life 🫡

Danish mid-century sofabed.

This beautiful, teak-framed piece was infested by London moths!
When I opened up the cushions, I found a beautiful original spring system inside, perhaps from the '50s /'60s.

I even found a tag from the Danish manufacturer! (Still trying to investigate... seems to be called Toledo Post…)

The spring system is well-preserved and still very comfortable. I have reconstructed the cushions with new foam, respecting the original design.

It's always a pleasure to work with such well-designed furniture! This piece will easily serve for another couple of decades ✨️✨️

A Robin Day sofabed from the 1950s.

​It was a pleasure to work on this iconic piece. I replaced the original latex foam and Pirelli webbing, which were well past their prime, but kept the design true to form.
It's amazing how clever and minimalistic the design is, with such simple structures and accurate measurements.
​The new upholstery had to be comfortable for both sitting and sleeping while still respecting the sleek, clean aesthetic. The carefully chosen fabric with its repeated pattern works perfectly with the style. I'm so happy to see this great piece of furniture ready for decades of use✨️
Thank you for the manpower pulling Pirelli webbings 💪