So I'm Carla Costa. I'm founder and owner of a social enterprise called aCADEIREIRA,
and we're an award-winning atelier in West London, between Kensal Rise and
Ladbroke Grove, where we make - as Daniel has just said - make and teach haute
couture for used seating furniture. So there's much more to upholstery than what
people might think or associate or label upholsterers as, so there's much more to it.
So that's why we position ourselves in that way. I'm certified by the Association of
Master Upholsterers and also KLC School of Interior Design. So these are things I've
done in my spare time in the past years to work my creative side, because my actual
background is in business and brand communications and advertising. And above
and beyond working with large organisations and brands etc, part of the practice...
that was part of the reason why I set up the project was at the beginning of the last
economic crisis in 2008 I came across a lot of people losing their jobs... people
actually at quite a late or mature age in their profession... so in their forties, and a few
years later I found out that most people were finding it really hard to go back to work,
especially at the same sort of levels. So I wanted to create something that would
allow people to learn a new skill if they can't find work or they're not given the
opportunities where their skills lie, and which allowed them to create their own
business and fend for themselves and go their way. And so as part of the practice
I also support and mentor small and micro businesses as well as individuals... so
people that have an idea of something they would love... they have a passion for
something and they don't know how to turn that into a business. So I help a lot of
people like that. Or people that already started but they don't know how to build the
next level. So I put my other skills into work in this way and I love it. Also part of the
practice, the idea is... at the moment it's all on standby... but the idea is actually to
have a few apprentices... train them not only on the actual art of upholstery...
traditional upholstery, but also on the running of the business because the idea is
actually that they run it.
