Cover Feature
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8 | October 2020 | SO Magazine
E Photos Rose Bainbridge
We meet a local family-run interiors company who are cornering the market when it comes to creating beautiful bespoke kitchens and cabinetry
leven years ago Helder Paulo was working as an apprentice for a small carpentry company based in North London making bespoke, high end furniture. Having set his sights on running his own business, the former professional footballer from Portugal was keen to learn all he could about the trade. Helder, who now lives locally with his family, regularly put in 12 to 14 hour days, which resulted in him learning lots of specific skills and valuable knowledge on how to run an independent business. When his boss, who had worked in the industry for over 40 years,
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decided to retire he offered Helder a partnership in the business in return for a small investment. Helder’s wife Bianca has a background in finance, so she was able to ask all the right questions to ensure that Helder was getting the best deal possible before investing in the company. “After a few months the deal didn’t actually go through,” Bianca tells me. “So we decided to take the long route and risk doing something by ourselves. We thought ‘well if something goes wrong then we only had ourselves to blame!’” The first step involved Helder equipping himself with all the
necessary tools – quite literally – as well as a van. He began by doing jobs around London, taking on everything from carpentry to fitting doors and floors in order to get himself established. “Flooring wasn’t really something he had a passion for but as you can imagine when you are starting your own business you can’t really be picky,” continues Bianca. “When Helder got bigger projects for doing things like fitted furniture he would hire a small workshop in Battersea to do the job. I still remember finishing my job in the city, taking the train and going there to help him paint the
furniture! Saturdays and Sundays were spent with the two of us painting and I actually became quite good at it!” laughs Bianca. After four years of working as a sole trader Helder decided to make the dream of running his own business a reality.
QUALITY
Almost two years ago he and Bianca pooled their professional resources and established Anthony Paulo Interiors with the idea of carrying on Helder’s passion of creating beautiful and unique furniture. “The company is named after our son Anthony, and also Helder’s
