About Kiki Voltaire

Kiki Voltaire's interior collection fuses vintage furniture, craftsmanship and vibrant natural fabrics. We re-invent classic furniture and create new handmade pieces to match your taste. British, bespoke and made to last a lifetime!

We specialise in contemporary notice boards, fabric notice boards, bespoke notice boards, upholstered headboards and re-upholstered vintage chairs, all made-to-order in our Brighton studio.

Our bespoke design service is available for customers and interior designers on our collection of headboards and notice boards. We will work closely with you through the design to create a unique custom-made product to your requirements.

Meet Stephanie, founder & owner

I am Stephanie Leclere the founder and maker behind Kiki Voltaire. I started my working life running my own advertising business in Paris, before moving to London in 1994. Over the past 25 years I have been scouring antique markets and auction houses in search of salvage to restore and re-invent. In 2003 I joined an evening restoration class and in 2006, after moving to Brighton, I trained in both traditional and modern upholstery at The Cass (London Metropolitan University), following my passion for interior design, textiles and crafted handmade furniture and home furnishing. In 2008, I set up Kiki Voltaire as a boutique upholstery business. Quality craftsmanship is paramount to Kiki Voltaire's work. We love what we do and produce unique pieces of furniture and home furnishing beautifully crafted that are made to last a lifetime.

Where are you based?
Kiki Voltaire and my home are based in Brighton, a short walk from the seafront and the lanes. We moved here from London in 2006. I come from Paris, then lived in London and still wanted to live in a city which also gave us an easy commute to London so after a few fun weekends in Brighton it seems like a great choice. I love living by the sea and near the countryside and will head to beach or for a walk on the Downs as soon as we can. Brighton is a friendly place where it is easy to start a conversation with people. Lots of people work have creative jobs so it gives the opportunity to meet like-minded people and it has a fantastic sense of community. 

Click here to visit my previous home in Brighton.

How did you get started?
When I was young, I used to visit to Les Puces de Saint-Ouen in Paris at the weekend with my dad and loved looking at the antique shops and its atmosphere. Sellers where passionate about their jobs, and often would have friends over lunch around a table for sale. I love the idea of conviviality mixed with your job or hobby, as for some it wasn’t a full time job but more a passion they would fulfil at the weekend. When I moved to London, I first lived in Portobello and would go to Golborne Road on Saturdays, and started to buy furniture there and at auctions. This led to an evening restoration class. From there my teacher suggested to study upholstery, and I joined The Cass for 3 years. I finally gave up my day job in finance in 2008 and set up Kiki Voltaire. 

What is your favourite to make?
Kiki Voltaire offers a collection of made-to-order home furnishings such as bespoke headboards, fabric noticeboards and vintage chairs, therefore I have a wide range of products I make. I like the variety this offers and designing a unique piece for a client. I enjoy the process of buying an original vintage chair or armchair and transforming them into a contemporary piece whilst respecting the original design. I love the wood restoration process. It's a real "labour of love" as can take a very long time. But the transformation of old tired chairs into ones fully restored is very satisfactory!

Where do you find your inspiration?
Since moving to Brighton, being near the sea and the Sussex countryside, my style and choice of fabric has been influenced by nature, walks by the sea, moody skies, colours you find in nature. I care about the environment and have decided before it was the trend to work with natural and sustainable fabric and I strongly encourage my customer to choose natural fabrics. I also buy from European designers and mills. My favourites fabrics are wool and linen , and love adding sheepskin in the winter.

What era do you identify to?
I love everything about the fifties, it's fashion, interior design and generally it's post war (creative) energy. My grandmother was a seamstress and had a house full of beautiful patterns books that I enjoyed looking at in my childhood. As my interest in interiors grew, I’ve enjoyed discovering the furniture and textile of the era. I love their simple line and functionality. 

I also I do find the bold patterns and colours of the seventies fun and joyful and like maximalist look but in the end I am often drawn back to simple line and natural tones with textured fabric when designing my collection. I basically love a scandi home with a bit of old and new furniture.

Lately, I have been more daring with colour and use them in my Contemporary Notice Board Collection. I have also noticed that after a deep affection for greys my clients are now more daring with colours too! The current trend of Blues brings joy to me as it's one of my go to colour. We have just moved house and blue is the colour you will find in every room. 

I believe your interior needs be a homely comfortable and harmonious space that reflects your personality. I am a big fan of mixing old and new where there are no particular rules but to please oneself. What is import is that furniture and decorative objects are well crafted using the best materials or that they have a deep meaning.

What is the ethos of Kiki Voltaire?
Quality craftsmanship has always been paramount to our work. We make unique pieces of furniture beautifully crafted that are made to last a lifetime. It’s the opposite of buying mass produced products from a big chain. It's a celebration of re-invented vintage finds from the UK and Europe, especially France where I can source some special pieces like my collection of Bridge Chairs. Thankfully the current concerns for the environment makes us more conscious consumers and encourages everyone to reuse and re-invent old furniture. 

Kiki Voltaire embraces traditional & modern upholstery, using beautifully made fabric from talented emerging designers as well as British brands such as Bute, Moons, Linwood and Romo. I strongly believe that it is important to conserve the UK and European textile industry and craftsmanship – "savoir-faire" – alive. All our products are made to order in Kiki Voltaire's Brighton studio.

What is unique about Kiki Voltaire?We re-invent classic furniture and create new handmade pieces to match your taste. British, bespoke and made to last a lifetime.

Quality craftmanship is at the heart of our work and we take great care in what we make with lots of attention to details. We will never send a product to our customers that we aren't entirely satisfied with. 

We offer a bespoke design service on our own collection of headboards, fabric notice boards, and vintage chairs, working closely with customers throughout the design process to offer them a bespoke made-to-order product.

I also source antique pieces from France, in particular Bridge Chairs, working closely with antique dealers who source special pieces for us. I then re-upholster them and work with my customers to choose an original fabric to match their interior or find something special to dress it up!

What are your plans?

Since Covid and the lockdowns, the business has shifted a bit towards taking some commissions from locals customers. 
The online business side is currently more challenging but offering a unique range with my bespoke Notice Boards and my collection of Contemporary Pin Boards and get interesting projects for designers, shops and museums as well as private customers who want extra large sizes, see my Commission page. I am also still restoring and re-upholstering vintage furniture brought from France despite the post-Brexit challenges. 

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