July Star Maker: Unseen Icons

Each month I choose my Star Maker from the nine featured in my print column. This month it’s Kerry Rutter from Unseen Icons

Introduce us to your brand

Unseen Icons are specialists in rescuing and refurbishing vintage cinema seats. We’re rebels at heart with a passion for taking the unseen, neglected and forgotten and creating something truly iconic.

What makes you stand out from the crowd?

I guess we’re quite quirky, you could say! We love colour and pattern and want to encourage others to be braver in their homes by surrounding themselves with things they love rather than what’s on-trend.

What part of the process of making your items do you enjoy the most?

Taking something old, battered and unloved and making it beautiful once more.

When did you realise you were a creative soul?

I’ve always loved making things. My mum was great at creating things like Christmas decorations or fancy-dress costumes and could also sew really well, so I guess I got it from her, although when I was younger I never wanted to learn to sew. As I grew up, I had various ventures making things like fairy wings and tutus and selling them at festivals and online.

What’s the best feedback you’ve received about your brand or products?

When someone sees our cinema seats and it stops them in their tracks! I love making that wow impression and for people to see how much creativity, passion and hardwork has gone into the finished product.

Why is sustainability so important to you personally and how you build your brand identity?

I can’t bear waste and the thought of things that could still have a purpose ending up in landfill is just crazy! When it comes to vintage items this is even more important, as once they’re gone, they’re gone for good. Our whole brand has been built around taking the forgotten and unloved and making it beautiful once more.

When looking at your journey so far, what would you do differently?

I guess it’s a tough call to say whether I did the right thing choosing to specialise in vintage cinema seats. I trained in traditional and modern upholstery and originally launched my business with the idea of bringing vintage chairs and sofas back to life, but after a couple of years I fell in love with old cinema seats and built a niche around these.

In some ways this has been fantastic – we’ve been continuously improving our techniques and I like to think when people think of vintage cinema seats they think of us. The downside has been that perhaps people don’t realise we’re also upholsterers and can reimagine and restore their chairs and sofas – which means we may have ended up with less work at times. Did I do the right thing? Who knows, but I’m still loving the cinema seats and live to show them to a wider audience.

What’s next for your brand? What newness should we keep a lookout for?

Collaborations are the life blood to a small brand like ours and we have some fantastic ones in the planning stages. We’re going to be working with the lovely Siobhan Murphy from Interior Design Masters, using her eclectic designs on our cinema seats, and then we have a striped collection launching with Colours of Arley.

• Unseen Icons will be at Goodwood Revival on 6–8 September, where you can see their gorgeous reimagined cinema seats.