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- How to upcycle vintage furniture, and the best places to find a second-hand bargain</p>
<p>Olivia LidburyAugust 2, 2025 at 1:00 AM</p>
<p>Henry Holland (pictured) and Sandrine Ferron Zhang have combined their talents on a capsule collection of six pieces of vintage furniture</p>
<p>The fashion designer-turned-ceramicist Henry Holland has a novel way of shopping for furniture for his home in east London.</p>
<p>Using the "wishlist" function on the second-hand furniture marketplace Vinterior, he and his husband David shortlist items they like, by room. Their tastes don't always align, so then: "we each go in and delete the things we don't like, and what we're left with is what we end up buying," explains Holland.</p>
<p>He has an affection for vintage furniture – in fact, he grew up surrounded by the stuff. His late mother, Stephanie, was an antiques dealer who filled her French château with treasures from brocantes.</p>
<p>"When it came to decorating my first rented studio flat, I'd go to my mum's with a van and bring back the leftovers – there was a barn full of them," he recalls.</p>
<p>Hiring a van is still something Holland occasionally does if making a pilgrimage to Sunbury Antiques Market, but it requires planning and a 4am start.</p>
<p>The last time, he returned practically empty-handed; which is why these days he uses websites such as Vinterior, which was founded by Sandrine Zhang Ferron, a vintage fan herself, who left her previous job in finance to launch it in 2014. Today, it collates inventory from 10,000 antiques dealers.</p>
<p>Ferron Zhang and Holland have pooled their talents to work together on a small collection of six pieces of vintage furniture (available from 6th August), which Holland has upcycled using his own-design fabrics for the British textile house Harlequin: think graphic checks, nostalgic archival prints and marbled patterns.</p>
<p>Here, he and Zhang Ferron share their tips for how to make well-loved classics work in a contemporary setting – and how old furniture can be reinvigorated with a little imagination and a skilled upholsterer.</p>
<p>What to look for when buying vintage</p>
<p>"I love pieces that have a story, and I like imagining what kind of homes they've been in," says Holland.</p>
<p>When searching, he will look past questionable handles or a dated fabric choice: "Don't get bogged down with the detail of existing pieces – focus on the shape and silhouette because you can change everything else," he advises.</p>
<p>Reupholstery is an obvious way to update a pre-loved item and take it into the 21st century - Oliver White-Smith</p>
<p>He keeps an open mind by searching broadly by item, rather than by era.</p>
<p>For example, while his husband might suggest a "1930s-style wall cabinet" for storage, Holland will simply trawl through wall cabinets as a category. "Avoid being too prescriptive, because there's such an amazing range of stuff out there that can really spark inspiration," he says.</p>
<p>Holland and Zhang Ferron agree that any marks form part of an item's charm and add to its story – but also, that taking accurate measurements is crucial. "Remember, these aren't flatpack pieces," Zhang Ferron points out.</p>
<p>How to choose fabrics for a new look</p>
<p>Reupholstery is an obvious way to update a pre-loved item and take it into the 21st century.</p>
<p>"A new fabric brings new energy and you can fall in love with a piece all over again," says Zhang Ferron. While buying second-hand is better for the planet, it's often better value for money, too, so there might be more left in the kitty to indulge in an extra-special fabric.</p>
<p>'A new fabric brings new energy and you can fall in love with a piece all over again,' says Zhang Ferron - Oliver White-Smith</p>
<p>A pair of angular Art Deco armchairs from Holland's wishlist got what he calls "the Battenburg treatment" with a graphic chequerboard fabric, while a pair of bentwood chairs by the mid-century designer Jindrich Halabala lent themselves to an abstract floral pattern rich in movement.</p>
<p>"If anything is rounded or organic and your fabric has straight lines, you'll lose a lot of the pattern unless you have an incredible upholsterer who is able to create lots of darts," warns Holland.</p>
<p>The application of piping (a narrow, decorative tube of fabric used as a trim) also requires consideration and can be just as dazzling as a print: on a pair of diminutive footstools, green piping makes the rounded edges pop. As Holland puts it: "Clever piping can be a great way to hide a lot of sins."</p>
<p>Other clever nips and tweaks</p>
<p>Reupholstery doesn't only apply to chairs and ottomans: inspired by the plush, fabric-covered doors in his own dressing room, Holland applied a little graphic magic to a compact teak wardrobe. "The cubic-shape handles worked really well with the chequerboard fabric," he says. Panels interlined with wadding were created and simply stuck onto the existing doors.</p>
<p>Panels interlined with wadding were created and simply stuck onto the existing doors of a compact teak wardrobe - Oliver White-Smith</p>
<p>'The cubic-shape handles worked really well with the chequerboard fabric,' says Holland - Oliver White-Smith</p>
<p>At home, Holland has also enjoyed success reinvigorating the tops of side tables and storage units with offcuts of marble – he had one made for a 1920s dentist cabinet given to him by his mother.</p>
<p>"It's a relatively inexpensive trick to make something look much more expensive," he says.</p>
<p>He has also been known to have wooden furniture lacquered by a local car garage. Creating a densely pigmented, high-shine finish, traditional lacquering requires many coats, and lacquered pieces can fetch thousands. For a few hundred pounds, professional spray-painting achieves a similar transformation of an old piece.</p>
<p>Trust in the experts</p>
<p>When it comes to working with an upholsterer, "share as much as you can about how you plan to use the piece and your lifestyle: for instance, if you have children, or what the rest of the room looks like," says Zhang Ferron.</p>
<p>When recovering a battered armchair, she had a skinny stripe in mind, but her upholsterer suggested a chunkier alternative in a weightier finish and she is thrilled with the result.</p>
<p>Trust your upholsterer to guide you – they might spot details and solutions you'd never have thought of yourself - Oliver White-Smith</p>
<p>"I'd have never thought of it and I learnt a lot," she says.</p>
<p>Holland approaches the process just as collaboratively: "Let your upholsterer give you ideas; they will know the best way to execute something," he says.</p>
<p>What to avoid</p>
<p>Holland is wary of trends: "There was such a massive explosion of mid-century modern pieces a while back. If you buy into current trends, it won't look timeless," he warns.</p>
<p>Zhang Ferron suggests leaving leather pieces as they are, "because the cracks are part of the charm and that is hard to replicate."</p>
<p>Holland has first-hand experience of swapping out red leatherette fabric on a 1950s armchair for a patchwork of tapestries and isn't convinced it was a good move.</p>
<p>"In hindsight, the two styles were quite opposing – a graphic shape and traditional tapestry – and I'm not sure I'm as in love with it as much now," he reflects.</p>
<p>The collection</p>
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