Beans means furniture for St Neots school worker

Forget the throwaway society, the make-do-and-mend attitude is alive and kicking.

Graveley mum-of-two Frances Corlett, 46, has turned a childhood hobby into a business – making everything from chairs decorated with baked bean labels to cabinets adorned with comic strips.

While she may spend all day dealing with numbers in her job as a finance manager at Priory Park Infant School, at home, creativity is the order of the day.

She said: “I have always made things since I was a young child. My mother was very creative and we were always making things using whatever was left around. I carried this on once I had my own children, but since they got older I started making things that had more of a purpose.

“I got fed up of falling asleep on the sofa once I’d got tea on the table, kids bathed and in bed, so I started knitting. I started knitting scarves and was trying all sorts of fancy yarns. They proved popular and I started selling them. I then started experimenting with other materials and that was what led me on to this.”

INFORMATION: Visit www.jessamy-designs.co.uk.