Penelope Chilvers

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500 appearances 1 recordings 1 series first heard Feb 2026 last heard 2 Feb

Penelope Chilvers’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 1 in all, peaking in Feb 2026 with 1.

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James Reed: all about business · 64. How to convert visibility into sales and long-term growth | Penelope Chilvers · 2 Feb 2026 podcast

Hi James yes it's been quite a journey and it's

It's taken up most of my life actually now, looking back.

But 25 years ago, I was in my first career living in Barcelona.

as a painter.

And I studied for four years at art school in London and then went and did an MA in Madrid in draftsmanship and drawing.

And then I went to live in Barcelona, married my Spanish husband and tried very hard to make money as a painter.

But I started a family very early and

felt really stupid going into the art, going into my studio and not being able to have a good day painting and coming out with something that could help us make some money just wasn't enough for me.

And so I started to change my chip and think I need to be more commercial more quickly.

And so I became a commercial painter, restoring

murals and painting furniture.

And then from then I started working with woodturners and designing objects in Barcelona and working with artisans.

And I think that was probably the beginning of my career as a footwear designer, working with artisans, because I really got very passionate about working with craft, people who make things.

And then I came back to London and

after the sad ending of my marriage with two little girls and had to kind of reinvent my career because I'd lost what I'd started in Barcelona for those 10 years that I was living there.

and was trying to work out what I could bring to London from Spain, because I feel like I'd probably done the opposite when I went to live in Spain, was taking a little bit of London with me.

The interior design world and the painting skills that I'd learned in London had been so useful in Barcelona.

And it's a long story, but I used to go riding in my lunch break in Spain up in the Coixarola Park, as one does in Barcelona.

You have very long lunch breaks.

And I would go for a short hat.

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