Kirsten
Ramsay
Fans of BBC One’s The Repair Shop know her as the calm ceramics expert who can make a shattered heirloom look as if it never broke. Interest in her life has grown with the show, from her age and family to Kirsten Ramsay net worth questions. She is a British ceramics conservator based in Sussex who has worked on the show since its first series in 2017, and the barn’s “queen of the invisible fix” has also restored a royal piece for King Charles. Away from the cameras she runs her own conservation studio in West Sussex. This guide covers her age, nationality, training, family life, her Repair Shop career up to October 2026 and where her money comes from.
| Nationality | British |
|---|---|
| Occupation | Ceramics Conservator, TV Expert |
| Based in | West Sussex, England |
| Education | West Dean College (MA Conservation Studies, ceramics, 1989–1991) |
| Business | Kirsten Ramsay Ceramics Conservation & Restoration |
| Known for | The Repair Shop (BBC, since 2017) |
| Dog | Niamh (Irish Terrier) |
Biography
Kirsten Ramsay is British. She lives and works in Sussex in the south of England, and the BBC lists her as a Sussex-based ceramics conservator. She has never made her date of birth public.
Her age can be worked out from her training. She told HELLO! that she was 23 when she decided to change careers, and West Dean College lists her as a student there from 1989 to 1991. That puts her birth around 1966, so she is about 60 in 2026.
She didn’t start out in conservation. For several years she worked as a visual merchandiser, dressing shop windows and displays. A love of museums and history pushed her toward evening classes in ceramics restoration, and that choice became what she calls “a turning point”.
Family
Kirsten keeps her family out of the public eye. She has never named her parents or any brothers or sisters in an interview, and her Instagram is about her work, her co-stars, her rowing and her dog.
Education at West Dean College
She studied conservation at West Dean College near Chichester, one of the best-known training schools for conservators in Britain. The college lists her course as MA Conservation Studies, specialising in ceramics, from 1989 to 1991. “From my first day at West Dean I was absolutely blown away,” she told the college.
Her training came with a hard lesson early on. In 1989, as a student, she worked on the ruins of Uppark House after fire gutted the National Trust mansion, according to HELLO!. Picking ceramic fragments out of fire debris was slow, careful work.
Career
After West Dean, Kirsten worked for two of Britain’s biggest museums, the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum, HELLO! reports. She then set up her own practice, Kirsten Ramsay Ceramics Conservation & Restoration, which has worked for more than 25 years.
Her conservation business
The studio is based in West Sussex, and HELLO! describes her workspace as a “cosy Scandinavian cabin”, which is where her Instagram name, @cabin.girl, comes from. Her business website lists European, Asian and contemporary ceramics, studio pottery, earthenware, painted plaster, alabaster, enamels, glass, cloisonné and micro mosaic among the materials her team treats.
The studio also takes on public art, including exterior terracotta and tiled murals. Clients range from private collectors and auction houses to museums and members of the public. The website lists a minimum charge of £200 plus VAT per item, with free quotes.
One of her biggest recent jobs was a panel from the Churchill Memorial Screen in Dudley. The 1960s panels were made by Bainbridge Copnall for the Churchill Shopping Precinct and taken down in 1992 after vandalism. On September 4, 2026, she wrote on Instagram that the restoration, carried out at “our Sussex studio”, had been featured in the US magazine Stained Glass Quarterly.
Joining The Repair Shop
The call from the show’s makers, Ricochet, came in the winter of 2016. “I was contacted by the team at Ricochet to take part in TRS and thought that someone was winding me up,” she told the BBC. “Restoration has always seemed rather niche and nerdy.”
She said yes partly because of where it was filmed. “I said yes because I knew it was filmed right next to my old college,” she told West Dean in 2023, since the barn sits at the Weald and Downland Living Museum, close to the college. She filmed her first episode in January 2017, and The Repair Shop premiered on BBC Two on March 27, 2017.
The show became one of the BBC’s biggest factual hits. After it moved to prime time in March 2020, an episode drew 6.7 million viewers. Kirsten says the people are what kept her there. “I met this amazing group of people, we immediately clicked,” she told HELLO!.
The royal repair
Her best-known job came in The Repair Shop: A Royal Visit, a BBC centenary special filmed at Dumfries House in Scotland while Charles was still Prince of Wales. He brought in a piece of Wemyss Ware made for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897, and it had been badly broken.
Kirsten called the restoration a “mammoth job”, according to the Express & Star. When the finished piece came back, Charles said he didn’t know how she had done it. The episode aired in October 2022, and on May 14, 2023, it won the BAFTA TV award for Daytime.
Favourite repairs and emotional moments
The repairs that stay with her are often the most personal ones. She told the Sun’s TV magazine about a teapot passed down “through the female line in the family”, brought in by a grandfather who had lost his daughter. “That was extraordinarily emotional,” she said. “That really sort of knocked me sideways if I’m honest.”
She admits the stories get to her. “It’s very difficult not to get involved sometimes,” she said in the same interview. What drives the work, she told the BBC, is the link to the past: “That connection to the past still gives me an unbelievable buzz.”
Early fans remember her rebuilding a Victorian garden gnome in series one. In April 2023 she joined Jay Blades as a guest on BBC One’s The One Show.
The Repair Shop after 2024
The show changed in September 2024, when Jay Blades stepped back from his TV work after being charged with controlling and coercive behaviour. Will Kirk and Dominic Chinea took over as co-foremen, and Kirsten stayed on as the ceramics expert.
The franchise has grown since then. She appeared on The Repair Shop on the Road, where the team visited Barr Castle in Galston, East Ayrshire, to repair a window pane signed by the poet Robert Burns. Glass is hard to fix, and the job put her under real pressure to get the historic pane back on display.
Series 16 of the main show began on February 25, 2026. On September 2, 2026, she promoted the new spin-off The Repair Shop: Beyond the Barn, which follows mended items back to their owners’ homes. “We’re hitting the road, leaving our workbenches behind,” she wrote on Instagram.
Her most recent barn job aired in October 2026. On October 21, 2026, she wrote that she had rebuilt the broken angel statuette of Mikey Akers, who won a Pride of Birmingham award at 16 for raising awareness of verbal dyspraxia. “I successfully managed to rebuild the wings, fill losses and experiment with layered hand painting and spraying,” she wrote.
West Dean London
Kirsten has stayed close to her old college. In summer 2023 she went back to West Dean to film in the grounds and meet ceramics students. “West Dean College offers you a foundation to start your career from,” she said.
On April 24, 2024, she officially opened West Dean College London, the college’s new arts and crafts hub in Bloomsbury, near the British Museum where she once worked.
Awards and Recognition
Kirsten hasn’t won a personal industry award, but the show she works on has a full trophy shelf. The Repair Shop: A Royal Visit won the BAFTA TV award for Daytime in May 2023, and the series won the National Television Award for daytime programme in 2023. It was also nominated for a Rose d’Or in 2019.
Personal Life
Kirsten Ramsay has never spoken publicly about a husband, partner or children. HELLO! noted in July 2024 that “it’s not known if Kirsten is married or in a relationship”, and she has kept it that way.
What she does share is her life outside the studio. She owns an Irish Terrier called Niamh, who often turns up on her Instagram. She also rows, and she has taken part in the Great River Race on the River Thames, which she described as “3 hours of hard pulling”.
Timeline
– Around 1966: Kirsten Ramsay is born
– 1980s: Works as a visual merchandiser and takes evening classes in ceramics restoration
– 1989: Starts at West Dean College, aged 23
– 1989: Works on the fire-damaged ruins of Uppark House as a student
– 1991: Completes her conservation studies at West Dean
– 1990s: Works in conservation at the British Museum and the V&A
– 1990s: Sets up Kirsten Ramsay Ceramics Conservation & Restoration in West Sussex
– Winter 2016: Ricochet asks her to join a new BBC restoration show
– January 2017: Films her first Repair Shop episode
– March 27, 2017: The Repair Shop premieres on BBC Two
– 2019: The show is nominated for a Rose d’Or
– March 2020: The show moves to prime time and draws 6.7 million viewers
– March 2021: Talks about the emotional teapot repair
– October 2022: A Royal Visit airs, with her Wemyss Ware repair for Charles
– April 4, 2023: Appears on BBC One’s The One Show
– May 14, 2023: A Royal Visit wins the BAFTA TV award for Daytime
– 2023: The Repair Shop wins a National Television Award
– Summer 2023: Returns to film at West Dean College
– April 24, 2024: Opens West Dean College London in Bloomsbury
– September 2024: Jay Blades steps back; Will Kirk and Dominic Chinea become co-foremen
– 2025: Repairs a Robert Burns window on The Repair Shop on the Road
– February 25, 2026: Series 16 of The Repair Shop begins
– September 2, 2026: The Repair Shop: Beyond the Barn launches on BBC One
– September 4, 2026: Her Churchill Memorial Screen restoration is featured in Stained Glass Quarterly
– October 21, 2026: Shares her restoration of a Pride of Birmingham award
Net Worth
Kirsten Ramsay’s net worth is estimated at $1.3–1.8 million. Her money comes from two places: her conservation studio and her TV work. The studio is the older and steadier of the two. It has served collectors, auction houses, museums and the public for more than 25 years, with every job priced from £200 plus VAT.
Television adds a second income. The production company pays the experts for each episode they film, while the people who bring in items don’t pay for repairs. With nine years on The Repair Shop, plus spin-offs such as On the Road and Beyond the Barn, she has a steady on-screen income on top of the business.
Her profile has also grown well beyond the barn. Opening West Dean London, appearing on The One Show and having her work featured in trade magazines all bring in more clients for the studio, so her earnings should keep rising for as long as the show runs.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Kirsten Ramsay’s net worth?
Kirsten Ramsay’s net worth is estimated at $1.3–1.8 million. Her wealth comes from more than 25 years of running her own conservation studio in West Sussex and nine years of fees from The Repair Shop and its spin-offs. She has never shared her earnings.
How old is Kirsten Ramsay?
Kirsten Ramsay is about 60. She hasn’t shared her birth date, but she was 23 when she started at West Dean College in 1989, which puts her birth around 1966.
What is Kirsten Ramsay’s nationality?
She is British. She lives and works in Sussex, in the south of England.
Is Kirsten Ramsay married?
There is no public record of a husband. She has never discussed being married, and she keeps her relationships private.
Does Kirsten Ramsay have children?
She has never mentioned having children in any interview or on her Instagram.
What does Kirsten Ramsay do on The Repair Shop?
She is the show’s ceramics conservator. She repairs broken pottery, porcelain, glass, plaster and similar items, often so well that the damage can’t be seen.
Where is Kirsten Ramsay’s studio?
Her studio, Kirsten Ramsay Ceramics Conservation & Restoration, is in West Sussex. She works from a wooden cabin, which gave her the Instagram name @cabin.girl.
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