A perfect partnership

Bespoke shoe designer Hetty Rose will be showcasing a collaboration with upholsterer-designer Sarah Penelope at Brighton’s Artists Open Houses event this May.

The event, which runs alongside the Brighton Festival, is the probably largest free visual arts event in Britain and gives visitors the chance to visit the studios, homes and gardens of artists in Brighton and Hove and see a wealth of painting, printmaking, furniture, jewelry, sculpture, stained glass and textiles.

The collaboration will be on display, alongside a range of hand-tailored chairs by Sarah Penelope, at The Old Fire Station in Hove.

Hetty Rose creates beautiful handmade shoes using exquisite vintage Japanese kimono silks, skillfully combined with handcrafted wooden heels, recycled leather and natural leather soles to create modern stylish footwear. The made-to-order range includes a number of styles, which can be made in your own choice of vivid kimono print fabrics, and are handcrafted by Hetty in her workshop.

Brighton based Sarah Penelope upholster’s period furniture or made-to-order chairs using contemporary or vintage and recycled fabrics, such as antique French hemp and men’s suits. All are meticulously upholstered using traditional techniques involving tied springs, layers of hessian, wadding and animal hair and hand-stitched seams.

These traditional methods enable chairs to last for years. Frames for made-to-order chairs are handcrafted by a Sussex head joiner using timbers which are fully traceable and ethically sourced.

Brighton’s Artists Open Houses runs over the first four weekends in May.