How furniture upholstery is made - interview with a designer and an upholsterer.
– Each fabric fibre has unique properties. For example, wool is soft to touch and easily dyed, with a stunning effect – says Cenk Kivrikoglu, the Creative Director for Gabriel, partner of Nowy Styl. He starts the designing process by choosing the fabric and colour. A proper combination of these two helps create a product that will enchant the customers with modern and high-quality design.
Why can’t you always choose any available upholstery? What does this choice depend on?
It depends on a number of factors. On the shape of the furniture, on the properties of the upholstery fabric and on the technology. For example, if you choose upholstery for a chair with rounded corners, a stiff fabric will crease at the corners, which doesn’t look appealing. You are therefore well advised to pick a more flexible material, which offers a better fit.
It’s good to note that if you were to use another technique on the same seat, e.g. adding a strip of fabric along the edge, a flexible material won’t retain its shape on the corners. Then it’s better to go for a stiffer option.
There are more factors we need to consider when choosing upholstery for a specific product line. They include: the thickness and firmness of the foam filling in the seat, the need to use zippers or whether or not the seams should be visible.
What types of upholstery do we have and what are their key features?
One of the upholstery types is textile. The fabric is made on a special upholstery loom and includes the intertwined weft and warp threads. Our textile upholsteries are: Rivet, Fame and Remix 3. The properties of fabric cannot be readily assessed at a glance. For example, if you use stiff fibres, the fabric will not be very flexible.
On the other hand, a KNIT upholstery is flexible, because it is made of connected eyelets of a single thread. In the Nowy Styl folder you will find a range of finishes: Mafra, Runner and 3D pattern fabric.
We also have ARTIFICIAL LEATHER and GENUINE LEATHER upholsteries. They are easy to clean and for this reason they are highly popular among customers.
How are the Nowy Styl upholstery fabrics different from standard textiles used in the fashion industry?
Our upholsteries are thicker and more durable. They can resist considerable strain and withstand intense use. Clothes are regularly tossed into a washing machine. It’s not so easy with furniture, which has to be stain-resistant. Apparel should be lightweight and airy - stiff, robust material is not always comfortable to wear. With upholstery, weight doesn’t really matter.
What is more, all our upholsteries are certified for their flame-resistance. Most clothes don’t have to conform to such standards.
The Implementation Section at Nowy Styl...
...is a team of experienced engineers who have been with us for years. Their everyday efforts are focused on supervising the production process, starting from the prototype to the model that is approved for production. But before a piece of furniture can actually be sold, the whole section oversees the entire technological process. Their meticulous calculations are used to define the time needed to cut, sew and assemble the upholstery. They are constantly keeping track of the demand to make sure all the materials are there to use. The engineers know how many metres of fabric should be used, how much foam filling goes into the seat and how many staples will reinforce the finished upholstery.