Threads and Wires
One sunny day I took a trip down to Swindon to visit a small and unusual specialist
business that can cope with both electrical and upholstery issuesE
mma and Mat Rakauskas are
the proprietors of Threads
and Wires, a business they
set up two years ago.
Emma is the seamstress of
the duo, turning her skilled hands to
everything from full refurbishments
to small repairs, such as torn seats.
Repairs to date have ranged from a
single small tear to re-upholstering
full-on Labrador wrecked seats.
Her first project was the rock &
roll bed in their own T4, and its
smart black and purple cab seats.
Mat has been an electrician all his
working life. The T4 was bought in
2012 as his work van. Nowadays it’s
the family’s leisure vehicle and Mat
drives a T6 for work. But thanks
to mods from Mat, it’s the T4 that
has the better sound system, which
he says ‘draws the crowds’ when
it’s on full chat at the shows!
It was Mat who encouraged
Emma in her upholstery work early
on, telling that that she “should
be doing this professionally” as
they walked around the shows
and saw what was on offer. At the
time, Emma was a director at an
IT company, a job she loved, so
she wasn’t keen to make a change.But then there was a company
restructuring and it was time for
Emma to say farewell to the IT world.
It seemed a good time for a change
of direction, so she put some of her
redundancy money into taking some
training and buying an industrial
sewing machine, before taking
the plunge into the new venture.
Without the long and expensive
commute to London, she worked
out that she could give herself a year
to see how things went. Nowadays
she often has a waiting list of people
wanting her work. Like many
fledgling businesses, for the first
year Emma says she didn’t want
to say no to any job no matter how
big or small, which sometimes
meant she had multiple projects
on the go at once, which with two
young children was exhausting to
manage! Most jobs come through
personal recommendation or via
Facebook, although (unsurprisingly
given Emma’s previous career)
they also have a smart website. On
the ‘Threads’ side as well as seat
upholstery, they upholster pretty
much anything, head linings, door
cards and audio enclosures etc.
The ‘Wires’ side can similarlytackle almost anything, from
complete van re-wiring to
custom lighting, dash cams, fault
diagnosis, audio upgrades and
even surveillance equipment.
Now that the business is more
established, Mat and Emma try
to space the work out a bit to
keep a good work/life balance,
although that can sometimes be
a bit challenging! With young
children, Emma appreciates being
able to be flexible with the times she
works. She enjoys being hands on
and creative and likes the ‘one off’
nature of her jobs. Mat also likes
the variety of the electrical work and
he also does quite a bit of carpentry.
Emma’s workshop was initially the
couple’s conservatory and although
her sewing machine is still set up
there, they now have a large storage
building and Mat says that they
have plans to move the business to
a unit, future plans include doing
more full bespoke interiors.
If you need any electrical or
upholstery work doing, you
can find them via their website
http://www.threadsandwires.co.uk or
search for them on their Threads
& Wires Facebook page.(^42)
VWBUS T4&5+
http://www.vwbusmagazine.com
COMPANY PROFILE
Anne Rogers