Chairs, £595

Until this morning I always browsed on Folksy for sweet, crafty, handmade things like finger puppets, placemats or soap – never  believing it to be the place for big, proper, impressive furniture. (Incidentally I did just order this, which looks lovely. I have high hopes).

But today I was proven wrong as a sleek trio of contemporary upcycled pieces by sellers Hopper and Space caught my eye and I thought it was definitely worth posting on – even if they’re not everyone’s style, they are proof that the UK’s online handmade community can thrive on a big scale as well as small, and testament to how far Folksy has come since it offered cutesy pin cushions and greetings cards.

Sofa, £1,295

Joe and Ben of Hopper & Space take vintage furniture, cover it with a neutral cream or fawn brushed linen and a contemporary flash of colour – usually neon – and the designs work really well on the angular, retro lines which can often seem too tough. Shunning sweatshops, unethical factories and mass production, they reupholster whatever comes their way, usually spanning the 40s to the 80s. Two of the three pieces they’re currently selling are reupholstered 1953 chairs and a sofa by British company E Gomme, who introduced their ‘G Range’ in the fifties to provide affordable and individual pieces to design-aware homemakers.

Chairs, £695

Their thoughtfully designed 2011 incarnations do exactly the same thing and should be snapped up immediately by anyone in need of a chair. Sadly, I am not.