Gemma Longworth is a Liverpool-based artist, furniture upcycler, television personality, author and community workshop leader best known for her work on Find It, Fix It, Flog It. On screen, she turns worn furniture and discarded materials into practical, decorative pieces. Away from television, her work has a deeper personal foundation: she uses art and craft to support children, families, hospital staff and people affected by bereavement.
Longworth’s career developed through formal art training, voluntary work at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, community workshops and a small creative business before television brought her national recognition. She later founded Hidden Gems, a community-focused organisation built around therapeutic arts, wellbeing and bereavement support. In 2025, she published Craft Your Cure, a book combining practical projects with reflections on grief and the emotional value of making things.
Born in May 1984, Gemma Longworth is 42 years old as of August 2026. Her professional work is well documented, while details about her romantic relationships, children and personal finances remain largely private.
Early Life and Family
Gemma Longworth grew up in Liverpool and is closely associated with the city’s Anfield area. Her childhood interest in creativity developed through family activities, including drawing with her grandfather and knitting with her grandmother. These early experiences introduced her to the idea that art could be social, comforting and useful rather than something confined to a classroom or gallery.
The defining event of her early life was the death of her younger brother, Sean, in a road accident. Longworth has said that she was 11 years old and Sean was eight when he died. Some later profiles have given his age as nine, but her own account identifies him as eight.
Longworth has explained that drawing helped her cope after Sean’s death. She did not understand it as therapy at the time; it was simply an activity that made her feel connected to him and gave her somewhere to place emotions she could not easily express. That experience later became central to her work with bereaved children and families.
Her brother’s memory continues to shape her public life. She has spoken openly about sibling grief, connected the development of Hidden Gems with Sean’s birthday and included her own experience of loss in her writing. Rather than presenting grief as something permanently resolved, she describes creativity as one way of living with it.
Education and Creative Training
Longworth began her formal art education at the City of Liverpool College when she was 17. She completed an Advanced Vocational Certificate of Education in Art and Design before taking a Foundation Diploma in the same field. These courses gave her experience across drawing, materials, design and practical studio work.
She later studied Drawing and Applied Arts in Bristol and completed a master’s degree in Textiles in Manchester. Her education crossed several areas rather than preparing her for a single conventional profession. Drawing strengthened her visual communication, while textiles gave her experience with colour, pattern, fabric and surface design.
Professional profiles also refer to additional training connected with therapeutic arts. This helped Longworth link her creative practice with emotional support, group work and wellbeing. That combination became especially useful in hospitals and bereavement settings, where technical skill mattered less than creating a safe and accessible activity.
After completing her studies, Longworth found that suitable paid work was difficult to secure. Instead of abandoning the field, she began volunteering at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. That decision became the starting point for much of her later career.
Alder Hey and the Start of Her Community Work
At Alder Hey, Longworth delivered arts and crafts sessions for children on hospital wards. The activities gave patients something engaging to do during difficult or uncertain periods, while also providing moments of connection for parents, relatives and staff. Interest in the sessions gradually led to opportunities beyond the hospital.
Her work showed that a creative workshop could serve several purposes at once. It could distract a child from treatment, give family members a shared task, help hospital staff pause during a demanding day and create space for feelings that were difficult to discuss directly. Longworth’s approach remained practical and informal, with participation valued more than artistic ability.
She later became involved with bereavement support linked to the Alder Centre, which works with families affected by the death of a child. Her sessions included drawing, painting, craft, memory work and group activities. The focus was not on producing polished artwork but on giving people a structured way to express themselves.
In 2014, Longworth was associated with an art-based bereavement resource called I Need Help. The project drew from her childhood experience and was designed to help children dealing with loss. It formed part of a much longer period of work that eventually led to Hidden Gems.
The Button Boutique
Longworth created The Button Boutique in 2011 as a creative workshop and craft business. The name reflected her collection of vintage buttons and beads, while the activities extended across sewing, knitting, painting, drawing, parties, handmade accessories and upcycled homewares.
The business grew from small-scale workshops into a more established operation. Longworth rented space at Baltic Creative in Liverpool before moving into larger premises on Brick Street in 2014. She renovated the property using reclaimed materials, affordable furnishings, fabric and her own design skills.
Running The Button Boutique required far more than making and teaching. Longworth had to learn about tax, payroll, bookings, promotion and the challenge of maintaining enough work to support a creative business. She received guidance from The Women’s Organisation, which helped her develop business skills and professional contacts.
The Button Boutique Limited was incorporated in 2013 and dissolved in 2015. That legal record does not necessarily mean all activity under the name ended at the same time, since creative workshops and trading can continue outside a particular limited company. The business remains important in her biography because it gave her years of teaching, design and public-facing experience before she entered television.
Find It, Fix It, Flog It
Gemma Longworth reached a national audience through Find It, Fix It, Flog It, the British restoration programme first broadcast in 2016. The show follows Henry Cole and Simon O’Brien as they search homes, sheds, barns and garages for neglected objects that can be repaired, redesigned and sold.
Longworth became part of the team working on furniture, textiles and decorative transformations. While other specialists handled engines, metalwork or heavy mechanical restoration, she often focused on paint, fabric, upholstery, colour and interior design. Her projects showed how an item could be changed in both appearance and purpose.
The programme’s format suited her background. Longworth was already experienced in explaining techniques to beginners, working with limited budgets and finding creative uses for ordinary materials. Her calm screen presence made the process feel accessible rather than intimidating.
Her work has included restoring chairs, redesigning cabinets, sewing vehicle interiors and turning industrial objects into household furniture. One project involved creating retro curtains for a classic campervan, drawing directly on her textile training.
The programme also makes the financial limits of upcycling clear. Materials, labour and specialist repairs can cost more than the restored item will eventually sell for. Longworth’s role is not simply to make an object attractive but to produce something practical enough to justify the time and expense.
She has also appeared on CBBC’s Saturday Mash-Up, where she introduced younger viewers to design and making. Her television work has continued to give her a broad public profile, but it represents only one part of her career.
Hidden Gems
Longworth developed Hidden Gems as a creative support service connected with bereavement, mental wellbeing and community participation. The organisation grew from her long relationship with Alder Hey and her own experience of sibling loss.
Gemma’s Hidden Gems CIC was incorporated in October 2024 as a community interest company. Its registered activities cover educational support, artistic creation and arts facilities. Longworth is listed as the person with primary control.
Hidden Gems offers art and craft sessions for children, young people, adults, hospital staff and community groups. Activities can include painting, drawing, collage, journaling, memory boxes, clothing repair and furniture upcycling. The organisation also works on sustainability projects and workplace wellbeing sessions.
Its collaborators and clients have included the Alder Centre, Alder Hey staff, Alfie’s Squad, Everton in the Community, the LFC Foundation, Mencap and other local organisations. Individual referrals may also come through services supporting children and young people.
The value of the sessions lies partly in their accessibility. Participants do not need to describe their feelings before they begin, and they are not expected to produce technically impressive work. A simple task can create focus, reduce pressure and make conversation easier.
In 2026, Longworth led a furniture-upcycling workshop for siblings supported by Claire House Children’s Hospice. The project gave young people affected by illness and bereavement an opportunity to make something, spend time with others and build confidence in a supportive setting.
Craft Your Cure
Longworth published Craft Your Cure: 25 Craft and Upcycling Projects to Heal and Bring Joy in June 2025. The 192-page book combines practical creative instructions with personal reflections on grief, stress and emotional recovery.
Its projects include drawing, paper crafts, clay work, cushions, knitting, clothing repairs and furniture upcycling. Readers are encouraged to focus on the experience of making rather than producing perfect results. Longworth presents creativity as a habit that can offer routine, concentration and a sense of achievement during difficult periods.
The title should not be understood as a medical claim. Craft cannot replace professional mental-health treatment, grief counselling or medical care when those services are needed. The book is better understood as a practical wellbeing resource shaped by Longworth’s own experience and years of workshop work.
In 2026, Craft Your Cure was shortlisted in the Best General Crafts Book category at the Creative Book Awards. Public information supports describing it as shortlisted, but not as an award winner.
Therapeutic Art and Professional Boundaries
Longworth is often described as an art therapist, therapeutic arts practitioner or arts and crafts therapist. These descriptions require some care because “art therapist” and “art psychotherapist” are protected professional titles in the United Kingdom.
Her confirmed public work includes therapeutic art and craft workshops, bereavement groups and creative wellbeing sessions. She also has formal education in art, textiles and related creative subjects. However, readers seeking regulated clinical art therapy should check the Health and Care Professions Council register rather than relying on promotional wording.
A precise description of Longworth is that she is an artist, creative wellbeing practitioner and bereavement workshop leader. Her sessions may have therapeutic value, but they are not automatically the same as clinical psychological treatment.
Marriage, Partner and Children
Gemma Longworth has not publicly confirmed whether she is married or in a relationship. Dependable professional biographies focus on her work, education, brother and community projects rather than her romantic life.
There is also no reliable public confirmation that she has children. Her extensive work with children and families should not be treated as evidence about her own private family situation.
Longworth has chosen to speak openly about the experiences that shaped her professional purpose while keeping other parts of her life outside public discussion. A respectful biography should maintain that distinction.
Net Worth and Income Sources
Gemma Longworth’s net worth is not publicly confirmed. No reliable financial publication, company filing or interview provides a verified estimate of her personal wealth.
Her likely income sources include television appearances, workshops, commissioned design work, speaking engagements, book royalties and commercial creative projects. She is also connected with Hidden Gems, although a community interest company is designed to serve a public or social purpose rather than simply generate private profit.
In April 2026, she incorporated Gemma Longworth Creative Ltd, a company registered for cultural education and artistic creation. Its early filings do not reveal her personal earnings or the value of her contracts. Online figures that assign her a specific net worth should therefore be treated as speculation.
Recent Work and Current Status
The period from 2024 to 2026 marked a clear expansion of Longworth’s work. Hidden Gems became a registered community interest company in 2024, giving her bereavement and wellbeing projects a formal organisational structure.
The publication of Craft Your Cure in 2025 added writing to her established work in television, workshops and design. The book allowed her to explain the personal history behind her creative practice and reach readers who could not attend her sessions.
By 2026, she remained active in community projects, hospital-linked support, upcycling events and creative education. Hidden Gems continued to develop partnerships, while Gemma Longworth Creative Ltd created a separate structure for her broader artistic and commercial work.
Her current public identity is therefore wider than the television role through which many people first discovered her. She continues to work as an upcycler and presenter, but her community and bereavement projects now form an equally important part of her reputation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Gemma Longworth?
Gemma Longworth is a British artist, furniture upcycler, television personality, author and community workshop leader. She is best known for appearing on Find It, Fix It, Flog It and for founding Hidden Gems.
How old is Gemma Longworth?
Gemma Longworth is 42 years old as of August 2026. Public company records list her birth month and year as May 1984, although her exact birthday is not publicly confirmed.
Where is Gemma Longworth from?
She is from Liverpool, England, and has strong links to the Anfield area. Much of her education, business activity, hospital work and community support has been based in the city.
What happened to Gemma Longworth’s brother?
Her younger brother, Sean, died in a road accident when Longworth was 11. She has said that drawing helped her cope with the loss and later inspired her work with bereaved children and families.
What television show is Gemma Longworth on?
She is best known for Find It, Fix It, Flog It. On the programme, she helps restore and redesign furniture, textiles and other unwanted objects.
Is Gemma Longworth married?
Her marital and relationship status is not publicly confirmed. She has kept that part of her personal life away from her professional profile.
What is Gemma Longworth’s net worth?
Her net worth is unknown. She earns from several creative activities, but no credible source has published enough financial information to support a reliable estimate.
Conclusion
Gemma Longworth built her career by turning creativity into a practical service. Long before television, she was working in hospitals, teaching workshops and creating opportunities when conventional art jobs were difficult to find.
Her public appeal comes from the directness of her work. She takes objects people have dismissed and shows how they can be repaired, reimagined and valued again. The same principle runs through her bereavement projects, where making something can offer structure and connection during periods of loss.
Television made her recognisable, but Hidden Gems and Craft Your Cure explain what drives her. Her career is not only about decoration or restoration; it is about using ordinary materials to help people feel capable, occupied and less alone.
Longworth’s private life remains private, and her finances are not known. What is clear is that she has developed a distinctive place across British craft television, community art and bereavement support, with a career grounded in both skill and lived experience.
