Welcome to Anthony Devine Online. I have taken my 27 years of upholstery experience and coupled it with my 12 years of upholstery education experience, to bring you a new way to learn! Online upholstery education presented in a way where the students’ experience is not only uncompromised, but actually enhanced! I offer online upholstery tuition which is modern, relevant and accessible. There are courses for careers, side hustles and one-off statement pieces and all this is done with the future of our great planet at the forefront of my mind.
MY story
meet the founders
We are husband & wife duo; Susie & Anthony and we are passionate about two things: upholstery and the great outdoors. Our daughter is 8 and we love nothing more than jumping into our campervan and hitting the road on the hunt for adventure. Often not even having a plan. One day we were watching the David Attenborough masterpiece; Frozen Planet with Poppy. We can’t imagine a future in which all the jaw-dropping beauty of our planet is no longer there for the exploring. That’s why we don’t want to practice upholstery at the expense of the planet and we believe that now is the time for change.
ANTHONY dEVINE
TEACHER / CREATIVE DIRECTOR
I have been an upholsterer for more than 26 years. In my final year of school I knew I didn't want to continue with an academic future. I knew my skills and happiness lay in making with my hands. Born in Derby, little did I know that I was geographically in the epicentre of the upholstery mecca, until I went (with my mum) to a college open day near Long Eaton; the home of some of the world's best known upholstery brands. I signed up, finished my exams and left school and two weeks later started my apprenticeship aged 16. Wow things were a little different to school and on my very first day I shot myself with a staple, which was quite the rude awakening. The week flew by and I spent my first wages on buying a ticket to see Oasis at Knebworth.
Fast forward a year and I carried on my training, working in all aspects of the upholstery industry. I travelled up and down the country and beyond learning my trade. At the age of 22 I thought I knew enough and started my first company. It was like being back at school again learning everything for the first time. I then packed up my tools and relocated to Manchester at the age of 26. I set up a shop and started advertising an evening upholstery course. It was just something I did because I needed the money at the time, but I quickly realised how much I enjoyed it and it very quickly took off.
It was a run-of-the-mill Monday morning and I was about to welcome my first daytime student... the door opened and my life changed forever. In walks Susie and at the end of the day in we walked into the pub.... fast forward a little more time and working to the old saying of 'two heads are better than one', Susie joined the business and we grew it together. Add to the mix a wedding, child, couple of dogs and a cat and we are quite the family business.
December 2019 I was diagnosed with MS and when you run your own business you have to adapt, which we did... using crutches I still gracefully strut across the workshop floor and I still have the biggest of appetites to create amazing furniture.
I have had to date an amazing career, I’ve worked with amazing clients and companies and of course, my work for TV programmes such as Money for Nothing, Flipping Profit and the kids’ TV show The Dengineers, has been a highlight.
aNTHONY’S PHILOSOPHY
“Never, never, never give up”. Being diagnosed with MS changed my life but I believe that with change and adaptation I can achieve great things. This motto is also at the forefront of our business manifesto.
SUSIE mILNER
STUDIO DIRECTOR
I’ve always been a creative sort of person and after a brief spell, where I thought I should get a 'sensible' job and join the police, I quickly realised fulfilment for me lay not in a good wage and job security but by becoming an actor! So, after a degree in drama and a postgraduate in acting I flew off to the big smoke from my home city of Manchester. London treated me well for over 10 years. The life of an actor not so much. After 10 years of a varied career in the theatre (and a career highlight of getting a chance to tread the boards of my favourite theatre, Manchester's Royal Exchange) I decided that the route to happiness lay not in creativity after all, but in security and I got a job working in a university. I was wrong of course and so commenced a safer, duller segment of my life. Until one Christmas, a bottle of Mod Podge, gifted to me by my Dad, changed my path. This led me to furniture restoration and after a short dalliance with that, I decided to learn upholstery! My first day on my upholstery course changed my life forever. My teacher became my husband and together we became a family and a family business. Never one to stand still for long, my career has been nothing if not varied and I say "bring it on!".
SUSIE’S PHILOSOPHY
“Feel the fear and do it anyway”. If we don’t push through our fears, we don’t grow and if we stand still, we stagnate.
Poppy Devine
ApprenTICE
I love my family, my pets and camping! My favourite thing in the whole world is to all be together in our campervan. My second favourite thing is ice-cream!
poppy’s PHILOSOPHY
Everyone is different, that’s what makes us all special.
MAX
THE Workshop dog
I'm Max, this isn’t my usual get-up! I’m super-chilled and I love to spend time with people; doing whatever they need to make them smile. That’s my goal in life, oh and to eat, I love to eat, eating makes me really happy!
his PHILOSOPHY
EAT, SLEEP, BE STROKED, REPEAT.