Inge Stoter spent years working in healthcare and social support before illness forced her to look for a different path. A reintegration programme put an upholstery needle in her hands for the first time, and it turned out to be exactly the right fit. What began with reupholstering a single chair grew, piece by piece, into her own workshop: Pinky’s Atelier in Arnhem.
Here, vintage furniture gets a real second chance. Inge picks up chairs, armchairs and other finds that would otherwise end up at the scrapheap, and reworks each piece by hand: stripping old fabric, repairing the frame where needed, and reupholstering with fresh padding. Fabric is chosen for colour and character. Nothing leaves her workshop looking like it did when it arrived. The result is furniture with a story: proof that something discarded can become the piece a room is built around.
Pinky’s Atelier is about more than furniture. For Inge, it stands for second chances, for people and materials. It’s a small workshop with a clear set of values behind it: reuse over new, transformation with nerve and colour, and the idea that creating opportunities for materials and for people can be the same project.
Visitors are welcome to see and feel a piece before deciding. Inge is in the atelier every Monday and Thursday, with other days available by appointment via email. It’s a hands-on way to buy furniture: you can run a hand over the fabric, ask about the piece’s history, and watch a chair mid-transformation on the workbench next to it. For anyone furnishing a home with pieces that already have a past, and now have colour too, Pinky’s Atelier is worth the detour to Arnhem.
