a upholsterer
“I did try to be something other than an upholsterer, it made sense eventually. No boss, master of ones own destiny”
From time to time, you’ll come across little niche businesses that go back generation after generation. Businesses that have stood the test of time and carried on in the same family and continued to prosper. They follow old school methods that deliver a quality service and product. Matt is one of those guys who followed that family tradition.
It’s fair to say that when Matt was growing up, upholstery wasn’t really on his mind. More important stuff such as skating was more of an interest. At some point he did realise that education might play a factor in his future so it was off to Uni. Matt’s choice of degree, fine art! It was whilst he was studying at Uni that he got spotted skating and picked up some local sponsorship. That led to competitions and before he knew it, more main stream sponsorship came forward. That led him on to the idea of setting up a skate board company for himself and shortly after “Homage” skateboards was born. A few years on from that with no work on the horizon, it was time to pay those bills. Kernow came calling and Matt headed home.
He headed back to Falmouth, met up with his old surf buddy, Vee, now his wife and started to work for the family business. “I did try to be something other than an upholsterer, it made sense eventually. No boss, master of ones own destiny”. Iv’e known Matt for a number of years going back to the days when we were shooting skate together but I haven’t seen the world of “Matt the upholsterer” before. I called into see him recently with a picture in my head of how his place of work was going to look. It wasn’t far from that vision. A really old barn full of old chairs, material, springs, coloured fabrics and much much more. Whilst it appeared to be untidy, Matt knew where everything was. I watched him tackle his most recent commission with the tools that his father and grandfather had used. Tools and some skills I’m sure that had been passed on to Matt over the years. I love shooting Matt - he’s so engaging at whatever he puts his mind to.
Cheers Matt
