Kim Newell has been the owner of Kim’s Upholstery Shop in the Lafayette, Indiana, area since 1999. Taught by her grandmother to sew and fashion custom slipcovers, Kim was inspired to try her hand at upholstery. It turned out to be a vocation that sparked her passion for creativity and craftsmanship and turned into a 25-year learning journey. This journey ranged from reading dozens of upholstery education books, to taking one-on-one instruction with master upholsterers, to enrolling in online training courses, to countless hours of taking chairs apart and putting them back together again. She served on the original board of the National Upholstery Association in 2019 and served as vice president until 2025. Kim believes that supporting upholstery education in the United States is vital to the growth of the trade. She loves to employ traditional upholstery methods that use sustainable, organic materials.