Gillian Sinclair Curtain maker

Ever since I was very young, I have sewn, painted, designed, knitted and created whatever I could.

- Catherine Coyle

I love discovering how something is made, then seeing if there’s a way to improve the process. My father was an engineer and my mother always sewed and painted, so I have had a lucky joining of the two minds.

I was born in Edinburgh and went to school in Glasgow and then in England, but I feel I never really learned much there. Instead, I fostered my own interest in art, design, classic proportion and colour – all things I use daily in the design and manufacture of window dressings.

I had a fairly standard comprehensive education but left school, and home, when I was still fairly young. After working in various office jobs for a few years, I ended up nannying for an interior designer who had trained with Anouska Hempel. We got on well and discovered that I preferred working on the curtains while she looked after the children. So I got my very first basic training in soft furnishings from her.