Farewell Swag & Tales. Hello Maker & Muse!

Since 2018 we have been known as Swag & Tales but we’ve taken the decision to relaunch with a brand new website, a new name – Maker & Muse.

But we aren’t just rebranding for the sake of it. We are delighted to announce that we will be expanding our range and introducing a brand new service! We will now be focusing more on restoring, reupholstering and selling antique and vintage seating. Our plan is to give old seating a new lease of life and turn them, once again in to statement pieces ready to take centre stage in any home. We’ll also be designing and upholstering a contemporary seating range, including retro style cocktail chairs and Queen Anne wingbacks. New or old, each piece will be handcrafted and we won’t do the same designs in huge quantities. We want you to be able to buy unique seating for your home and not have the same chairs or sofas as your neighbours.

We’ll also be introducing our own soft furnishings range with cushions and lampshades all made in-house plus, later this year, we’ll be designing our own fabric to use in this soft furnishing range – again giving you something no one else has! And is if all that’s not enough, you can now also commission bespoke footstools with us. We can make them to your exact requirements, with a choice of sizes, fabric to suit your interior and a choice of feet.

Of course we will still be selling a range of Antique and Vintage homeware but you’ll just have a wider range of pieces to choose from to complete your interior design project. We also want to work with more interior designers and buyers, so please do get in touch if there’s something specific you’re looking for – we’d be happy to help deliver your vision either with a custom statement chair, a footstool or a bespoke fabric design.

So, why are we doing all of this now?

Well, up until recently I have been running Swag and Tales as a bit of a ‘side gig’. I’ve fit it around my full-time job in marketing. Well, I did until May this year. Right up until Covid drove the pretty large travel company I worked for, into administration. 2700 people were made redundant overnight. We were one of the first in the travel industry to go, but we certainly weren’t the last. Companies big and small have, and are still, going under with the devastating effects of Coronavirus.

As we can all attest, this year has been difficult for everyone BUT, I was determined to make something good come out of all of this, so two days after I was made redundant I enrolled on a business upholstery course 50 miles away. I’d wanted to do the course for over two years but just couldn’t fit it around work. Now was my chance, so I took it. I drove 100 miles a day for eight weeks but I absolutely LOVED the course and I loved having the time to focus on finding myself again. I have been learning upholstery for the last five years and gaining skills and knowledge from people that have been in the trader for 30 plus but I’d never been able to focus on it full-time for a number of weeks. This opportunity gave me time, not only to hone my skills but also the space to decide on a direction for Swag & Tales. At the end of the training I had complete clarity on what I wanted to do personally and where I wanted the business to go. So, now seems like the right time to rebrand, relaunch and start making!