Fabric house a haven for DIY interior designers

Martha’s owner Jo Ferrier has a love of colour, texture and good design. Pictures / Martin Sykes

There isn't actually a Martha at Newmarket fabric and furnishing house Martha's.

Owner Jo Ferrier chose the name to create a "warm and friendly name so people would feel comfortable coming in to have a look around".

Indeed, you do feel like that. Martha's is a retail furnishing business open to the public and is unlike most fabric houses, which are the domain of interior designers with trade accounts only.

"We wanted customers to feel like they're shopping in a warehouse," she says.

The store fitout is designed to encourage that - it's behind a roller door in a former light-industrial building in a quiet street off Khyber Pass Rd. There are some concessions to style though - Ferrier had all the walls painted white and the concrete floor ground and polished before opening last month.

Martha's has thousands of bolts of drapery and upholstery fabric. Many are set up on brackets that allow the fabric to be rolled out, giving you much more of an idea of the way a fabric looks than traditional sample pieces allow. The display is helpfully divided into colourways, so it's easy to head towards your preferred hues. There is also a linen room, for those who prefer things natural.

Ferrier sources all the fabric herself from New York and European mills. Most of it isn't available anywhere else in New Zealand, she says. It's mostly end-of-line and sample fabrics. But this doesn't mean you'll be one cushion short of a lounge suite if you choose material from Martha's - some lines are available in quantities of up to 200m. If you are after a much smaller cut, there is a remnants cupboard to fossick through. Prices for all fabrics range from $10 to $60 a metre.

Ferrier spent 10 years working for top-end residential and commercial fabric wholesalers before time away from the trade to have children George (4) and Oscar (2). Now she's relishing being back in the interiors game.

"I love colour, texture and good design. It's amazing what you can do with textiles. You can change the look of a room simply with cushions and throws."

Martha's will soon sell cushions and can direct people to upholsterers and curtain-makers, but if you prefer to do it yourself, you can also buy linings there for curtains and blinds.

The business hasn't just been attracting those with interior design on their minds. A number of fashion and costume designers and creative types have been coming in and Ferrier has already seen her fabric appearing in new-season clothes.

Linen has been a top seller. "Natural colours are always popular too and we've sold a lot of boldly patterned prints for accessories," Ferrier says. "People are still using a lot of interesting greens, from avocado to acid brights. We're not talking forest green though," she adds. As well as beautiful reds, sea-foam-coloured fabric has been popular. "It looks beautiful with brown."

Shipments of new stock will be coming in every month. Next in is around 2000m of well-priced taffeta in a large range of colours.

If you fancy some taffeta, but can't decide on an exact shade, Ferrier can snip you off a large swatch to take home.

* Martha's is at 14 Melrose St, Newmarket. Phone 523 3655.