Wendy Shorter

Wendy Shorter is a Fellow and Director of the Association of Master Upholsterers & Soft Furnishers (AMUSF) and a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Upholders (archaic word for upholsterers). In 2008 she was appointed Director of Training for the AMUSF and she represents the Association on several industry boards.  Wendy is City and Guilds Qualified and has been teaching for the past thirteen years.

In November 2011 Wendy was named Outstanding Training Provider at the 2011 Proskills Awards, sponsored by the Scottish Government. In March 2010 Wendy's book “Professional Soft Furnishings” was published and later that year she was awarded the Women in Furnishings Award: Inspirational Women of the Year 2010.  In 2008 Wendy Shorter Interiors were awarded Training Centre of the Year Special Recognition Award by the University of Hertfordshire.



Tricia Butterworth

Tricia joined Wendy Shorter Interiors Limited, having run her own soft furnishing business for many years. Given her own wide experience in soft furnishings, teaching was a natural extension. As a former student of Wendy's, gaining both her upholstery and soft furnishing qualifications with distinction, she has an insight into the requirements of the courses both in soft furnishings and upholstery from a student's perspective. Tricia shares Wendy's commitment to develop the highest professional standard of work from the students who come onto any of the courses.

Louise Boyland

Louise completed a two year apprenticeship with traditional upholsterer, Ainsworth Broughton, in London and then completed her training with Wendy Shorter, gaining Levels 2 and 3 with Distinction in Traditional Upholstery. She also spent over a year working for a London based upholsterers making high-end furniture for interior designers and hotels, concentrating mainly on modern upholstery, which has enabled her to gain a well rounded upholstery background with extensive experience in both modern and traditional techniques. Louise also has her own studio in Shoreditch, taking on private commissions. Louise is qualified as an Adult Learners’ Tutor, a qualification which has also proved invaluable because she also set up the UK’s first prison based upholstery training facility at HMP Wandsworth.

Liz Alsop

Liz worked at the Tate Gallery before leaving full-time work to raise her family. She started training with Wendy Shorter in 2006 gaining AMUSF upholstery qualifications with distinction. In 2008 she launched her own upholstery business, Sitting Pretty, based in St Albans undertaking a wide range of traditional and modern commissions. Liz was runner-up in the 2011 HEICO design competition at the NEC in Birmingham and is currently working on new designs in collaboration with the furniture-maker Gordon Wood.

Sue Mayes

Sue is a Theatre Designer by profession who originally taught herself Seat Caning and Upholstery to repair pieces of furniture for use on stage. She then went on to train properly in these fields gaining her Level 3 City and Guilds. She now divides her time between Theatre and Furniture Restoration.