About Us
Chrissie Jeffrey
When she was about four years old, Chrissie Jeffrey took a pair of scissors to one of her grandmother's patchwork cushions and cut out a small square.
My grandmother used to turn all her old fabrics into cushions and spreads - viyellas and old silks and wonderful old crepes,
she says, and I just had to have that piece!
After growing up in northern country NSW, Chrissie studied at East Sydney Technical College (now the National Art School), completing a rigorous three year 'hands-on' course in which students did everything from millinery and hand stitching, to cutting and making 'from the block', that is tailoring a pattern on a dressmaker's mannequin in calico, a technique also used by students of haute couture.
After a couple of years with Pamela Taylor in Surry Hills, Chrissie began her own soft furnishing business, Stitches, working with a range of interior designers, including Ann Gyngell and Michael Love, both of whom set high standards of workmanship and enjoyed prestigious client lists. It was an interesting period for Australian design,
says Chrissie, Ann had worked for Marion Hall Best and was well-versed in modernism, whereas Michael loved to do everything in the grand old style.
Over the next few years Chrissie's reputation for reliability and beautiful workmanship spread but she felt increasingly frustrated that she could not get the fabrics she wanted. After a trip in the late 1980s looking at London textile businesses, Chrissie opened her first retail shop in Surry Hills, Sydney. It was a tiny little shop but there was a demand for a wider choice of fabric and we filled the niche.
Also in that year she worked with curators from the Powerhouse Museum on the exhibition A Material World about the history of textiles around the world. It encouraged her to push the boundaries and expand her business.
Today, there are two shops, No Chintz Woollahra and No Chintz Willoughby, both of which have a dedicated following from customers who want a special product but she is equally committed to her staff in the workroom. It's vitally important to keep those skills alive, to hold onto that knowledge.
Chrissie and her team in the workroom also deal directly with architects, designers and textile houses, as well as suchpublic clients as the Historic Houses Trust for the refurbishments at Duntroon College and Government House. I really like collaborating with clients to get the best results possible. It's very interesting to work with different sensibilities.
As ever, Chrissie is moving in new directions. Some of her fabrics now are woven in India to her specifications and her online catalogue has become a major part of the business.
I just love textiles,
she says. Who ever would have guessed?