The Client

Wendy Conklin is the founder of Chair Whimsy — a brand built on the art of chair upholstery and restoration. As a skilled upholsterer, Wendy has developed a distinctive approach and a set of techniques that transform worn, dated chairs into statement pieces people want to display, keep, and pass down. Her work has earned her a dedicated following of creatives who admire not just the results but the craftsmanship behind them.

What Wendy wanted was a way to teach that craft — to give her audience access to the same upholstery techniques she had spent years refining, in a structured course format that could reach students far beyond what her in-person work or social presence could serve directly.

She came to COURSE to build it.

The Challenge

Artistic expertise is notoriously difficult to translate into a structured curriculum. Wendy's techniques are intuitive, tactile, and developed through years of hands-on practice — the kind of knowledge that flows naturally in a studio but requires deliberate organization to teach effectively through a screen.

Four challenges needed solving. The curriculum had to honor the depth of her techniques while remaining accessible to both complete beginners and experienced creatives wanting to refine their skills. The video content had to capture the tactile nuance of upholstery work — fabric selection, cutting, tucking, and finishing are skills that require seeing the details up close, and production that couldn't show that level of precision would undermine the entire learning experience. The platform had to be intuitive enough that students could focus on the craft rather than navigating the technology. And the marketing strategy had to reach the global audience of creatives who would want to learn from Wendy — people who might not yet know her name but were actively looking for exactly what she was teaching.

What We Built Together

COURSE partnered with Wendy across curriculum design, multimedia production, platform integration, and marketing — building the Chair Whimsy course from concept through launch.

Curriculum design organized Wendy's expertise into step-by-step modules that served both beginners and experienced creatives equally well. Each module was built around her signature upholstery techniques — structured to build skills progressively so students could follow a clear path from fabric selection and prep through to a fully finished, professional-quality chair, regardless of their starting point.

Professional multimedia production gave the course the visual quality upholstery instruction demands. Our production team created polished, visually detailed video lessons and demonstrations that showed Wendy's techniques with the precision and clarity the craft required — close-up footage of cuts, folds, tucks, and finishing work that made each step genuinely learnable rather than just watchable. The videos didn't just document her process — they made it feel replicable and achievable.

Platform integration created a seamless learning environment. Easy navigation, resource access, discussion boards, and progress tracking gave students the support structure that keeps people moving through a course rather than abandoning it halfway through. The experience was designed to be as smooth as the creative process Wendy was teaching.

The marketing strategy was tailored to reach Wendy's ideal student — creatives drawn to her aesthetic and techniques. Optimized landing pages and sales copy communicated the course's value clearly. Social media campaigns showcased the visual appeal of her work and attracted new audiences. Influencer partnerships and strategic promotions extended the course's reach to communities that wouldn't have discovered it through Wendy's existing channels alone.

The Results

The Chair Whimsy course launched to enthusiastic reception from a global audience of creatives eager to learn Wendy's techniques.

Students praised the comprehensive lessons and hands-on exercises — content that empowered them to upholster their own chairs rather than just admire what Wendy could do. The production quality elevated the learning experience and reinforced Wendy's brand as a serious, professional educator in the upholstery space. Course completion rates benefited from a platform experience that reduced friction and kept students engaged through to the end.

The launch established Chair Whimsy as a scalable education platform — giving Wendy a way to share her upholstery techniques with a global audience and generate revenue that doesn't depend on her being in a studio for every sale.

What's Possible

Wendy had a distinctive upholstery methodology and an audience that wanted to learn it. COURSE built the curriculum, production, platform, and marketing that turned Chair Whimsy into a professional online course reaching students around the world.

If you're an artist, craftsperson, or creative professional with techniques worth teaching and an audience ready to learn — this is what building a course around your craft looks like when it's done properly.