Jaclyn Kole
Think it’s impossible to anthropomorphize a chair? Think again.
Artisan Jaclyn Kole does so regularly, attributing human personalities to the vintage furniture pieces she finds in their original “clothing” and, like Pygmalion, transforming them from dusty matrons into chic beauties. Such magic springs from her discriminating eye for color—the bolder the better—and her skills as an upholsterer.
“I love scrolling through Facebook Marketplace and seeing a cute chair,” Kole explains. “I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, look how cute she is!’ Then I re-imagine a different outfit for her. I think, ‘What could she become?’”
“She” becomes a star among stunners at the Urban Housewife booth at GasLamp Antiques, located at where Kole sells an eclectic mélange of transformed furniture hailing from design eras as far apart as Victorian and Mid-Century Modern.Kole isn’t just technically good at upholstery—she has the gift of mixing fabrics and trims to create spirited works of color and texture. Think leopard print, velvet, and vinyl fabrications married to tones of bright teal, acid yellow, and deep pink.
“I’ve always really liked bold color,” Kole says. “It’s funny, because when I go to the fabric store, they’re like, ‘Can I help you find anything?’ And I want to ask, ‘Where’s your neon section?’”
Kole doesn’t just tease out the original splendor of an antique chair or ottoman per a customer’s desires, as would a traditional upholsterer. She chooses her own color palettes and fabrics, then uses upholstery to redesign vintage furniture to suit a modern aesthetic. Pieces that seem in no way accommodating to a hip design scheme—say, a Victorian Eastlake chair—are made thoroughly modern in her capable hands.
Jaclyn Kole
It wasn’t so long ago that the 31-year-old upholsterer honed her transformative powers at Middle Tennessee State University. There, she graduated in the disciplines of textiles and fashion merchandising, then worked for Urban Outfitters. So, she knows a thing or two about cutting-edge trends and thinks the dizzying pace of today’s style cycles can lead to unnecessary waste.
“In this modern day, we’re so used to tossing something out when it no longer suits us instead of re-imagining it and updating it for our current life,” Kole says. “That’s what is most exciting to me—re-imagining these older pieces to fit in with our current trends and fashions.”
It’s hard to imagine this lithe young lady conquering an industrial sewing machine—a complex creature that requires one’s entire body strength to command. Mastering this piece of equipment was the hardest part of Kole’s journey, which began when she picked up an instructional book on upholstery.
“It’s a challenge mentally, physically, and creatively,” she says.
Jaclyn Kole
Kole sought education in the upholstery trade after becoming disenchanted with her original career pursuit of fashion. While searching Instagram using the hashtag #upholstery, she found Diane Montgomery, owner of Coventry Lane Upholstery in Nashville. The timing was right: Montgomery’s own nascent career allowed her a wee bit of time to take on Kole as an apprentice for a year.
“She taught me so much,” Kole says. “That’s the only way you can really learn. It’s difficult to learn this trade since there aren’t schools dedicated to upholstery.”
As she launched her solo upholstery career under the Urban Housewife banner, Kole didn’t take on upholstery projects from others.
“I have my own creative energy that I want to express,” she says. “The hardest part is saying ‘no’ to people, because everyone has a chair they want done. I knew that, at first, I would make a lot less money doing my own pieces, but that overall it would be more beneficial. I don’t want to get burned out doing somebody’s grandmother’s sofa in micro-suede. I want to create pieces as an art form.”
GasLamp Antiques, 100 Powell Place, 615-297-2224; gaslampantiques.com