OMG. I've fallen in love. Look at this chair. No, it's unfortunately not mine (yet), it belongs to two other people...
If you want fabulous, crazy-amazing, unique fashion, you head to Westwood or Galliano or JC de Castelbajac. Equally, if you want fabulous, crazy-amazing, unique furniture, you (must) head to Jimmie Martin - the brainchild of Jimmie Karlsson and Martin Nihlmar, two Swedish friends with SOME imagination! Originally designing furniture for a laugh for their own flat, they spotted a gap in the market and thank God they did, without them and their fun, tongue-in-cheek, ingenius designs, the world (or at least a lot of people's homes, some nightclubs and a few hotels) would be a less colourful place.
It's hard not to love everything they produce. Jimmie quite rightly says in the little interview below that it is not to everyone's taste, but i think everyone can appreciate it in a Roy Lichtenstein kind of way. Their furniture is fashion and art, and like any dedicated designer, these artists are masters of their craft. They essentially restore old, grand furniture - they take a period piece and bring it bang up to date with a fresh slap of paint - fit for a 21st Century King (or Queen in my case). Each piece is so carefully worked on taking weeks to finish by hand, and there is a slight feeling of sadness when it is collected by the new owner the two men tell me, but it's very quickly forgotten when they find a limp, in need chair or couch that they can get their hands on and turn around to be fabulous once again.
I want one of everything, I've already told Jimmie. My house will be a Jimmie Martin show room, you wait!
Here's what Jimmie had to say...
The Very: How did the idea of taking old pieces of furniture and totally re-vamping them come about?
The Jimmie: A friend of my mother was a mural artist and had done a classic painting on the seat of a chair, nothing was done on the frame of the chair and the painting was not our cup of tea, but that got us thinking… by taking old pieces nobody was interested in these days and funk them up a bit with metallics and bright fabrics and on top of that adding a hand painted artwork to it would make them desirable. Was it through a boring afternoon one day? Cant remember to be honest, but we did it for fun for our own flat originally in 2004.
The Very: Was it always a dream of yours to work with furniture?
The Jimmie: It was never planned or a dream. Martin used to work in Sweden in an interior store, so always had an interest in the business. And I used to be a model for 10 years, studied art in Sweden and spent most of my money on furniture, decoration and fashion when I was young so I guess it all just came together without planning it.
The Very: What would you say has been your biggest project to date?
The Jimmie: I think it must have been when we did the whole interior design for a nightclub up in Glasgow two years ago. It pushed us into thinking of every little detail; from doorframes, handles, toilet tiles, urinals, bar, walls, lighting, furniture, colours, the whole lot. It was loads of fun and lots to do! Another nice little project was at the end of last year when a client flew us over to NYC to do some work on some pieces for their newly renovated £60m hotel makeover on the Upper East Side. It wasn’t as big as the nightclub, but was so much fun!
The Very: If there was one person in the world you want to own a Jimmie Martin chair or table or bed, who would it be?
The Jimmie: Gwen Stefani - she is such a cool person. If her interior taste is anything like her fashion and style, then I am sure our pieces would fit in well.
The Very: Do you draw inspiration from anywhere in particular? or is it just what comes to you that moment?
The Jimmie: It is mostly what comes to us that moment… inspiration comes from everyday life; news, people, music, nature, streets, fashion… anything really. You know when you see something that catches your eye.
The Very: Some of your ideas are quite radical... have you had any negative feedback from anyone?
The Jimmie: It is quite fun to actually listen to people’s comments and look at their reactions when they walk by the showroom. Most of the time they are all good comments. It might not be to their taste, but it makes them stop and talk about it. Sometimes you have the ‘boring’ people who can’t appreciate other people’s designs and art, they all tend to look a bit miserable anyway LOL! We don’t expect everybody to love what we do, and we wouldn’t want that anyhow. We all have different tastes in most things and thank God for that! Life would be way too boring if we all looked the same and liked the same things!
The Very: Have you got any loyal celeb fans?
The Jimmie: Maybe, maybe not! Our clients are all equally important whether they are famous or not. (What a smooth answer, huh? They don’t kiss and tell – BORING!)
The Very: What’s next for Jimmie Martin?
The Jimmie: Since we moved from Shoreditch a few months ago to Kensington there has been a change to our business. It was a great move for us, Shoreditch was always cool and fun, but it was time to move on. We launched our fragrance candles last year and our wallpaper range has taken off too. We are also setting up an interior design company, we have only registered our company name so far, but we are currently working on our first venture for a new fashion boutique due to open on the Fulham Road. We have a few other projects in the pipeline too, so 2010 shall see the launch of our exciting interior design company so stay tuned! (name and website TBC).
How amaze?! Intrigued? Click here to find out more www.jimmiemartin.co.uk 
