Hannah Weston Smith was 38 years old at the time of her January 2021 Repair Shop episode, placing her birth year around 1982 or 1983. Hannah originally wanted to be a firefighter, but when her plans didn’t work out because she wasn’t tall enough, she returned to her passion for making.

She grew up on a council estate, on free school meals and education maintenance allowance when she was at college, and held down multiple jobs through all three years to cater for university tuition.

She completed a degree in Three-Dimensional Design at the University of Northumbria, then worked as a design technology teacher for a while. After missing the practical element of her work, she went on to complete an MA in furniture conservation at Buckinghamshire New University (High Wycombe). Hannah started training as an upholsterer in 2005, completing a masters and an apprenticeship before moving to Folkingham in 2011.

Hannah was invited to stand in temporarily for The Repair Shop‘s regular upholstery expert Sonnaz Nooranvary, appearing in four episodes filmed in 2019 and broadcast between 2020 and 2021. Her parents, who were massive fans of the show, persuaded her to accept the invitation.

In January 2023, Hannah co-founded Folkingham Creative Arts with Viki Barnes, opening in the Old School building in the village to teach traditional upholstery and craft to the public