About Us

idolum is owned and operated by husband & wife team Cathy Waddington and Guy Pyetan.

Cathy graduated from Bath College in 1989 with a B.Ed (Hons) in Fashion & Textile Design. Her love of fabrics and textiles led to the setting up of her own small soft-furnishing workroom which was followed by 7 years as Deputy Manager in the operations department of Britain’s largest, most successful show-house design company. This department catered to the needs of some 24 designers. Specifications would be estimated and then product ordered, manufactured (in the case of soft furnishings) and installed to tight deadlines.

It was whilst working for this company that Cathy first had the idea of a “floating” operations department for freelance designers. Many designers love the freedom of working for themselves, however, without the operational support and backing of a larger company, it can be difficult to open and maintain trade accounts. The facilities available to freelancers are limited and many of the more mundane aspects of administration and accounting can slow them down and preventing them from spending time doing what they actually enjoy most – designing.

Combining Cathy’s operational skills and industry knowledge with the skills of her husband Guy, a Management Consultant, idolum was set up in September 2001 with just two employees and a client base of five. It was, and still is a totally unique organisation that has grown steadily over the past eight years and now caters to more than 300 individuals and companies, including some of the country’s finest designers and architects.