FASHION: Unique furniture

Decoupage Dandy founder Melissa Holman. Photo/Nigel Holman

Fabric-loving carpenter's one-off pieces are in vogue, writes Rebecca Keillor

Local decoupage artist Melissa Holman was given a tool belt for Christmas when she was 4 years old and put it to good use 'helping' her father build their family home on Auckland's West Coast. The time spent alongside her dad on-site and in the workshop lead to a lifelong love of woodworking, culminating in the founding of Tauranga-based Decoupage Dandy earlier this year.

Holman upcycles antique and second-hand furniture into modern, functional and charming drawers (on rollers) for storing toys and clothes, dressers, record players, bed frames, chairs, card tables and more, through the art of decoupage.

"It is still a pretty unknown or celebrated craft," she says. "People know upholstery but look at me like I'm a little crazy when I say I add glue and polyurethane to beautiful fabrics. They don't realise how robust and hardy the finished product is. Totally toddler tested in our household."

One of her biggest sellers, Holman says, is her rolling storage drawers, which fit snugly under beds, because people are always looking for storage solutions and love that they can find something that is both functional and has personality, adding some flair to a home.

Holman sends a lot of her work to Auckland, producing pieces on commission for those who find her through word of mouth and via her website and says there is an increasing demand for creative storage solutions, with people moving into smaller spaces or just going for a cleaner, more minimalist style.

Decoupage Dandy's pallet shelves have proved popular, she says, with people using them to create reading libraries for their kids and lately she's had a lot of requests for toy boxes.

Roller drawers by Tauranga's Decoupage Dandy have proved popular with parents looking for storage solutions for toys, clothes and the like. Photo/Melissa Holman

"When you sell a whole lot of drawers you're left with the carcass," she says. "And if the carcass is in good condition then I can turn that into a toy box. It's reasonably light and it's just a matter of finding a safe lid."

Choosing the right fabric makes all the difference, she says, first inspired by the cloth markets in the Gulf, where she lived for a few years when first married in 2010.

"I absolutely adore fabric," she says. "People pick their own (from her selection) or they tell me a colour they like and I search out a fabric for them. There is a huge range of genres covered these days, from superheroes to music and movies, sports and famous artists. The choices are endless."

The 'dandy' in her business name is in reference to a "fashionably dressed man," she says. "So mine is fashionably dressed furniture."

Decoupage Dandy will be at The Little Big Market in Papamoa on December 12th and every Saturday in January. Holman's work can be viewed online at www.decoupagedandy.com

* Rebecca Keillor is a Vancouver-based journalist. Her work can be viewed at www.rebeccakeillor.com