Perth designer set for TV upcycling stardom
Sarah’s Attic to feature on popular BBC programme
A Perth couple are looking forward to showcasing their talents on TV this week.
Sarah Peterson and Alfie Iannetta run Sarah’s Attic – an upcyling businesses based in the Fair City’s Princes Street.
It will be featured on a number of upcoming episodes of ‘Money for Nothing’ on BBC One.
The show challenges ‘upcyclers’ and designers to make the most money from items that otherwise would have been thrown in the bin.
Sarah originally started out as a designer and glassmaker at Caithness Glass, with customers including the Royal family, before initially running her latest venture out of Watsons of Perth on the High Street.
When Watson’s closed its doors last year, Sarah and Alfie opened up Sarah’s Attic on Princes Street.
The production crew behind the popular daytime show first approached them after spotting Sarah’s talents on her website.
Alfie explained: “The production crew did some research on upcycling in the UK and found Sarah’s website and she needed to do a Skype interview before they came up to Perth to do the filming.
“Money for Nothing is a typical BBC afternoon programme, like Cash in the Attic or Homes Under The Hammer – it’s a tried and tested format.
“They have presenters who go to recycling centres across the country and take stuff off people who were going to throw them away to do something with it.
“They have a team of designers all over the place who specialise in different things, and the items are sent to them to work their magic on.
“We’ve done five programmes for them, and the first one that airs is a celebrity episode on Thursday, where Sarah will be working on a Paralympic athlete’s suit from the Sydney Games.”
The film crew has been back and forward to Perth to carry out the filming.
Alfie continued: “The items are brought up here to Perth and we upcycle them here in the shop.
“The cameraman has been up loads of times, and the presenter has been up as well to see the finished articles Sarah creates.
“They loved coming to Perth, we took them down to the River Tay to do some filming and the designers and cameramen always go to Duo Pizza for their lunch whenever they come up. The cameraman even has his own mug here now. It’s been great.” Sarah added getting involved with the programme has allowed her to experiment with her designs.
The first episode airs at 4.30pm on BBC One on Thursday this week. Sarah Paterson and Alfie Iannetta from Sarah’s Attic