The Festival of Upholstery is set to open its doors to the upholstery community for a second time later this year. Building on last year’s successful inaugural event, 2026’s Festival of Upholstery promises to be even bigger, with more exhibitors and visitors expected to attend.
The two-day festival will be held on 2nd and 3rd October at the National Conference Centre in Birmingham. A programme of courses, speakers and workshops blending learning, community and promotion of the craft is currently being put together, and exhibitors are being invited to attend. There are also plans for another evening social event. Tickets will be available in the spring.
The first Festival of Upholstery was held at The Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst in October. A two-day programme of speakers and demonstrations and 20 exhibitors from across the industry attracted nearly 500 visitors from the upholstery community, from as far away as Australia.
The 2025 festival was preceded by a series of courses run in the days leading up to the event. Heritage Crafts Trainer of the Year nominee 2025, Gareth Rees, created the line-up of craft courses, which included freehand deep buttoning, Danish paper cord seat weaving, traditional mattress making, Passimenterie making, Scandinavian springing techniques, hand-stitched lampshade making and classic French upholstery. A new programme of courses is being designed for this year’s event, with bookings expected to open in April.
An evening social event at last year’s festival allowed 200 people to come together to meet old friends, make new connections and celebrate the craft, and the dinner this year promises to be even better.
The Festival of Upholstery is organised by a team of committed volunteers led by chairperson Kirsty Lockwood, who initially had the idea for the event in 2024. Frustrated by the lack of a central, accessible community for upholsterers, who often work by themselves, Kirsty set about gathering a team of people to pool their skills to help organise an event with community at its heart. The event is designed to allow upholsterers of every background to come together to share knowledge, discover new materials and techniques and to feel part of a thriving community.
Behind the scenes, the Festival of Upholstery Committee has been working hard to ensure the continued success of the event. Plans for this year’s programme are well under way and, due to a larger venue than last year, even more exhibitors are being invited to attend.
Kirsty says: ”We are delighted to be able to bring the Festival of Upholstery back for 2026, offering visitors the chance to immerse themselves in a whole new programme of events. We’ve listened to all the feedback we received at last year’s event and have some exciting new ideas for this year’s festival”.
Photo courtesy Asun Olivan
