Yasmin Strube - Old Chapel Gallery
The Aladdin’s cave of creativity in East Street, Pembridge, aka The Old Chapel Gallery, is owned and run by Yasmin Strube who is celebrating thirty-six years of running her business. This is just the latest venture for entrepreneur Yasmin, who began her career in catering and hospitality in her native Hertfordshire.
Yasmin attended the Cambridgeshire College of Art & Technology where she gained a City & Guilds Catering Certificate. Her first job was at the Red Lion Hotel in Duxford where she rose to become Head Chef. After 10 years of long hours, she answered the urge to travel and combined this with her love of food by cheffing on a superyacht for celebrities, including Beatle George Harrison, and Formula One star James Hunt. Winter brought her back to the UK where she became personal chef to the editor of American Vogue whose guests included Elizabeth Taylor and former Prime Minister Edward Heath.
A trip to a local market saw her entranced by the beautiful spools of Shetland wool which inspired her to buy a knitting machine and learn how to use it. She was soon making several jumpers a day, all to her own designs. She continued working as a chef for private parties at the weekends but devoted the week to building her fledgling knitwear business.
Her mother’s move to New Radnor brought Yasmin to Herefordshire and she immediately fell in love with the peace and quiet of the beautiful countryside. This coincided with the Old Chapel in Pembridge coming onto the market. The chapel had been deconsecrated some years before and its latest incarnation was as a rug-making factory. Despite the dust and detritus of its former use, Yasmin immediately saw the potential which this prime spot in Pembridge offered.
The rug maker had used the chapel as a showroom for his work and displayed the wares of a potter and a jewellry maker, so the beginnings of the gallery were already there, but Yamin has turned it into the successful business it is today and a destination for shoppers looking for that special gift.
The Gallery provides a retail space for established artists and new talent, both local and national. Its range of wares includes ironwork, sculpture, ceramics, textiles, wood carving and turning, stained and hand-blown glass, and knitwear. With six major exhibitions each year, there is always something new to see, all discerningly curated by Yasmin.
Kay Ingram
Old Chapel Gallery
Old Chapel Gallery,East Street, Pembridge
Herefordshire HR6 9HB
01544 388 842
An eclectic collection of the best of British fine art and craft.
Open Wednesday to Saturday 11 - 4.30pm
Sunday 12 - 4pm
Monday, Tuesday by appointment.
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