Giving back through business

Terry Munro has set up Curtain Culture in Whanganui. Photo / Paul Brooks

Terry Munro's workroom is his garage, lined, lit and decorated for comfort.

A large table sits central, covered in fabric he is turning into Roman blinds for a customer.

He calls his business Curtain Culture. Qualifications hang on the wall, as does art in gilt frames and other eye-catching paraphernalia.

Terry makes curtains and blinds from this workspace.

"The best thing I did was fire the boss and go solo," he says.

He is a qualified fashion designer ... "passed with distinction", says Terry. "Then I went off and did a Kiwi Host course, because my boss thought I needed it."

He is beyond caring what people think. "I was working for the Fabric Warehouse in Wellington."

Terry was born in Auckland but came to Whanganui with his mum and siblings.

"I went to Keith Street School and Wanganui Intermediate — I actually played Cinderella at Wanganui Intermediate (in pantomime): I was known as Cinderfella for my whole time there."

He went on to what was then Boys College, where he was told to be more "manly".

Terry's stepfather, Doug Limpus, had the dairy in Rangitikei St.

"I left school and went to work for Tingey's in the main street ... that's where I 'came out' and it was a little bit awkward."

Terry was put on a few PEP Schemes around Whanganui, including working at Kowhai Park, building the fitness track, and then up at Four Seasons Theatre where he worked as a cleaner. The next step was Hamilton where he worked for Dold Industries, making motorcycle backpacks, sewing nylon into serviceable luggage.

Terry is a machinist, a man deft at the art of sewing, and he has used those skills in a variety of occupations, leading to what he does now.

His mission is to provide people with affordable, good quality curtains and blinds. Not just Whanganui, because he gets orders from all over New Zealand from people wanting high quality making.

"People are looking for smaller businesses, independents."

He says sewers are treated badly in the industry, which is interesting because the industry could not operate without them; but the very words "free curtain making" in fabric shops denigrates the skill of those who do the making.

"How about free installation?" he says.

"I've always had a passion for sewing: my aunty used to teach the teachers that taught the stretch knit classes in the 1970s. She used to make wedding dresses from home. When I did the family genealogy, I see I come from a long line of home sewers.

"I told her I thought she was miserable, making me sew on paper, couldn't even give me a bit of calico. But I realise now what [she] taught me: it's very hard to teach people, and that's feel.

"When you're cutting on the tables, never turn the fabric: walk around the table and cut."

He says his aunt fine-tuned a few things, but he is basically self-taught.

When he was working in Wellington he did work for Mark Sainsbury, who promptly praised Terry on his website. Through that job he met Debra DeLorenzo, specialist interior designer.

"It's been seven or more years I've been working with her, now."

Terry sources his fabric from all over, but he also creates blinds and curtains from fabric supplied by the customer.

"That way they can save money. It's time to give something back."

He will direct customers to local fabric suppliers like Murray's Emporium or Philp-Wright's.

"If we can't do local, we'll do regional."

He says he was hesitant to come back to Whanganui, the scene of many bad gay experiences, like severe bullying, but he and his partner came and had a look. They saw that Whanganui had changed, that there was diversity, an arts culture, affordable housing, of course, and so they settled here.

"We like the pace of life here and the fact there are so many artists in town — of course there are the bulls*** artists and the con artists — but the other artists are good.

"I was too fabulous for this town. I had to leave until the town was fabulous enough for me to come back!"

The fabric spread across the table, his sewing machines and tools of his trade, his complete confidence and artistic flair are testament to the quality of the business he has brought to Whanganui.

He says people only buy curtains and blinds a few times in their lives, so they probably don't know a lot about the business. How then could they recognise a bargain or know when they're being overcharged?

"That's why, for a small fee, I'm happy to talk to a mothers' group of kindergarten group, or any group ... new homeowners, not understanding procedures and costs. If you don't know, you don't know. This is why I'm sharing information and also doing alterations and repair work — there's a need for it."

To engage Terry's services, his email is terry@curtainculture.co.nz.