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Earth Day 2020

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International Womens Day

To celebrate Earth Day 2020, and because sustainability is close to our hearts, we thought we would share our research on sustainable products from our fabric suppliers, carried out by our Materials Manager, Lindsay Watson-Jones.

Please feel free to add your comments below.

Eco Fabrics and Sustainability in the Upholstery Industry

It’s plain to see that we are in a growing world and industry where sustainability, recycling and repurposing is at the forefront of projects and is becoming more and more an important credential or specification. With this being the case, the information gathered below will enable us to assist those customers who are required to include such accredited fabrics to their portfolio.

Before we start, here’s an interesting note:

Ref: Tree Hugger.com

“High-tech” isn’t what you’d normally think of when it comes to fabric, but in recent years, that’s exactly what it has become. Innovation has brought about revolutionary new materials and processes, and one rapidly changing industry. Several different criteria go into making what can be called an eco textile, but seven basic questions you should ask are:

  1. Is it recyclable?
  2. Is it made of recyclable materials?
  3. Is it easily biodegradable?
  4. Is it produced using green manufacturing processes without harmful chemical byproducts?
  5. Does it follow McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC)’s Cradle to Cradle principals?
  6. Does the finished product off-gas harmful chemicals having a negative effect on indoor air quality?
  7. Does the manufacturer have a company-wide sustainability policy?

Offerings from our regulars:

Panaz

ecoTWILL™ by Panaz, the industry first, contract quality, 100% recycled polyester basecloth for print. Made in England, this truly sustainable, low carbon footprint basecloth for upholstery allows architects and designers to specify a fire-retardant standard fabric, which is a durable and eco-friendly product for hospitality and workspace contract environments. Woven with yarns manufactured from recycled plastic, each metre of ecoTWILL™ repurposes dozens of 500ml plastic bottles into a desirable, long-lasting fabric (100,000+ martindale) which itself is recyclable at end-of-life.

Kvadrat

Danish firm Kvadrat – Six of the firm’s textiles are particularly green.

((lnteresting when you have a moment: https://kvadrat.dk/about/our-environment))

Hallingdal, 70 percent new wool and 30 percent viscose.     Molly is stamped with the EU  Flower designation, meaning manufacturing, chemical composition, and quality is checked by independent bodies in order to comply to strict ecological and performance criteria.

More interested in biodegradable? Flora, Kosmos, and Helix, are labelled “Good Green Buy” by the Bra Miljöval (or Falken), a Swedish eco label backed by the Swedish Society for Nature. This means contents can easily breakdown at the end of the product’s lifecycle.

Kvadrat continued: Across 465964 seating upholstery from textile manufacturer Maharam is made of 100 percent post-consumer recycled polyester. The firm has several textiles containing some or all recycled content, as well as a few designed to be easily biodegradable.

Chieftain

Chieftain Carousel, their 2nd fabric to launch into the woven market. Its composition is made up of 59% Recycled Cotton and 41% Polyester. It is suitable for all contact application with Crib 5 certification & 200,000 Martindale Rubs. Carousel is also has Aquaclean™ Technology, a cleaning facilitator meaning that most stains can be removed using water only. Aquaclean™ has also been treated with Safefront® Protective Shield and will not support the growth of bacteria.

All but 2 of Chieftain’s vinyl ranges carry the logo ‘Reduced Environmental Impact’ which means it can be recycled by the PVC being stripped away from the cotton backing cloth and reused. Typically, the PVC is reused in electrical wiring and Wellington Boots! Chieftain recycle on average 500kg every month their PVC with the help of P.P.H.U Kajmax in cooperation with EMABO (a member of Recovinyl) https://www.recovinyl.comƒabout-us

The backing cloth Chieftain use is also from recycled cotton. Going one step further, Chieftain’s Lionella range has 100% organic cotton backing.

Agua

Agua Fabrics have recently launch Tierra Eco which is a new and innovative 33% plant based eco-friendly faux leather ideal for interior uses.    Sadly their website doesn’t support any further information than this however, there is a small amount of information on their swatch card: This new technique makes the product strong and hardwearing yet ultimately biodegradable on disposal. There is no compromise in per− formance, and the collection has been rigorously tested and achieved an impressive 100k+ Martindale abrasion rating.

Agua are looking of ways to increase the proportion of plant-based products in our artificial leathers to reduce the use of PVC; this also helps with biodegradability at the end of the product life. An example of this new policy is our recently overhauled FurnisoG PU faux leather range which is now biodegradable.

ILIV

ILIV (smd textiles) don’t currently have any offerings in the way of recycled fabrics. Its something they are looking into. However, with that said, what they do is heavily reinvest into the local community and in return giving them very strong Corporate Social Responsibility message.

Camira

Camira are soon due to launch Oceanic, a fabric conceived and woven entirely from recycled plastic taken from the sea and rescued from the land. Oceanic is a fabric born of the SEAQUAL Initiative to achieve a waste free environment.

Here is a list of Camira’s other sustainable textiles and the yarnƒproduct they use: Flax—24ƒ7 Flax, Main Line Flax, Patina

Hemp— Hedben and Hemp

Nettle—Aztec, Nomad and Traveller

Wool—Aquarius, Blazer, Blazer Lite, Craggan, Indivduo, Landscape, Oxygen, Synergy & Synergy 170

In Summary

Now, more than ever before, there are sustainable choices for contract fabrics which meet the demanding requirements of the contract market while protecting our planet. Celebrate Earth Day every day!

The Top Stitch #4

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The Top Stitch

The Top Stitch interior design

Your weekly digest of news in the world of Design, Upholstery, Furniture and Interior Design, brought to you by Global Upholstery Solutions.

The plastic debate: what to consider when changing material supplies – Supply Management

Businesses are under pressure to replace, reduce or remove packaging to fight climate change – but the practicalities are more complex than many ever imagined.

If plastic was invented today, rather than in 1907, it might well be marketed as a new product with enviably ‘green’ credentials. After all, it is lightweight, readily available, affordable and – compared to other materials, when analysed on a full lifecycle basis – can be relatively frugal when it comes to carbon emissions. Instead, thanks to its durability when leaked into the environment, it is almost universally synonymous with pollution.

Managing The Big Risk Of Bringing Your Employees Back To Work – Chief Executive

Every organization is being challenged and stressed by the Pandemic. Every leader is being called upon to lead others through this complex human horror. Many leaders that I talk to are focused on “what” we should do – running lots of financial scenario planning exercises preparing for the “what if’s”. When do we furlough or fire more people? When do we start bringing back people? That is necessary but not sufficient in my view.

Bring Them Back! – Reupholstery Limited

Antimicrobial fabrics are the new normal for hospitality – migrating from the healthcare sector.

As soon as the starting gun goes to get the country back up and running again, wouldn’t it be great to get out of the starting blocks quickly? As someone wise once said, a day lost at the start is a day lost at the end. The sooner your customers start coming back, the earlier you’ll start on the recovery curve.

THE FUTURE OF BOUTIQUE HOTELS -Design Insider

The idea of using “boutique” to describe a hotel category originated in the USA almost 40 years ago. Since then, boutique hotels have evolved from being largely independent owner operator hotels to include branded concepts from larger hotel groups. A combination of consumer desire to seek a unique experience, the power of global hospitality groups to invest in new brands and the ability of developers and operators to secure investment has driven growth in this sector.

Here’s What The Post-Coronavirus Office May Look Like – Forbes

Though much of the world is still under some degree of coronavirus lockdown, one real estate firm has already proposed a way for office workers to mitigate the risk in returning to work through a workspace concept called “the six feet office.”

The Connected Series – Country and Town House

Whilst it may be far from business as usual, it’s so important that we look after not only our friends and loved ones, but our design community and industry as a whole. We’re also of the mindset that if we all come together to work, not as individuals, but as communities looking out for each other; helping with whatever skills we can offer – this will see us through.

Creating a sense of togetherness, community and connectivity for makers, designers and craftsmen and women. ‘The Connected Series’ will be hosted weekly by Country & Town House and by Carole Annett, Interiors Editor, in a bid to keep our design community connected.

Cottonwood Canyon Experience Center is built out of wood nobody wants – Treehugger

Juniper is an invasive species that’s tough to work with.

Whenever we write about wood construction and mass timber, we get complaints about deforestation and questions about whether it is really green and sustainable. This building, the Experience Center at Oregon State Park, may well become our poster child, our demonstration of wood done right.

Virtual Design Festival – Dezeen

This week on Dezeen we launched a Virtual Design Festival featuring a live video interview with Li Edelkoort and messages from architects and designers from across the world.

Virtual Design Festival, the world’s first online design festival, launched this week to help unite and uplift the industry during the coronavirus pandemic.

The event kicked off with a compilation of video messages sent in by scores of creatives from around the world sharing their situations and their hopes for the future.

10 Reasons You’ll Want to Add Geometric Patterns to Your Home Design Milk

Thankfully, geometric patterns are here to stay. Artists and designers continue to come up with fresh designs, and in new and inventive ways, making it impossible not to love them for years and years. If you’re afraid of too much pattern or want to take it slowly, it’s easy to incorporate one or two things to help invigorate a space. If you’re on the opposite end of the spectrum, geometric patterns can definitely cater to the maximalist in you. Read on for 10 ideas on how to add in geometric patterns into your home without going overboard.

INDUSTRY INSIGHT: The meaning of hospitality in a hostile world? – Hotel Designs

Designer Peter Mance, who the director of MAAPS Design and Architecture, takes a thorough look at why design in hospitality will change post-pandemic… 

Me: “Alexa, define ‘hospitality’.”
Alexa: “The definition of hospitality is the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers.”

Postmodernism: The flamboyant rejection of Modernism – Icon

Popular between the 1970s and 90s, postmodern architecture featured houses with curving forms, bright colours and humorous ornamentation

Modernism, which was popular in the years after the second world war, was defined by its emphasis on simplicity and the adage ‘form follows function.’ While it strove to create urban utopias and was influenced by the ideas of socialism, postmodernism was nominally unideological but quickly becmae associated with corporations and capitalism.

Working From Home – Banksy

My wife hates it when I work from home.

Upholstery Production Week 16

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On an even shorter week – 3 1/2 days – with a few holidays thrown in for good measure, the output quantity was low, but the OTIF was still 100%

Although it might seem that this should be easy with such a low output, when we have so many staff furloughed, this is still an excellent performance. The team is being incredibly flexible in how they are working and supporting each other.

As part of this week’s figures we shipped over 300 of our V2.0 Visors for our front line staff who are still having to work and visit sites to keep essential lifts and stairlifts operational.

Safety VisorProducts Shipped – 1038

Number of different product types shipped – 34

OTIF – 100%

Click here to read more about our Commercial Upholstery services

Our 20,000 square foot upholstery factory is designed into manufacturing cells with all our processes built to make our Upholstery Production with an efficient and effective use of resources. This allows our 50-strong shop floor team to produce large quantities of high-quality products in short lead times and deliver on time, every time.

Each cell includes CNC fabric cutting, adhesive spraying for foam, multiple sewing machines and machinists, multiple upholstery benches and quality inspection, packing and despatch benches.

Our team are multi-skilled and experienced so that one day we could be making 1500 identical theatre seats, the next we could make a single banquette seat. Our process is designed to adapt to whatever our customers need from us as we don’t make any of our own products – everything we make is for our business customers that need highly reliable deliveries of a range of products.

Face Visors Away!!!

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The first batch of Face Visors 2.0 for our sister company Stannah Stairlifts Sales and Installations plus Maintenance and Repair and has now been shipped. We originally made a batch of face visors a week ago for Stannah Stairlifts, the manufacturing company for their factory staff, which we posted about here.

We have since made design improvements to the product and 400 more units are being manufactured. Now that we are operational and the process is working, we should be able to produce 200 units per day.

face visors

The Top Stitch #3

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The Top Stitch

The Top Stitch interior design

Your weekly digest of news in the world of Design, Upholstery, Furniture and Interior Design, brought to you by Global Upholstery Solutions.

GLOBAL UPHOLSTERY SOLUTIONS, BLACKSWAN AND PANAZ REMAKE – Design Insider

Global Upholstery Solutions and Panaz have long shared a strong relationship and have collaborated on various projects over the years. They were therefore delighted when Panaz Account Manager, the wonderful June George, visited their team to introduce ReMake, a new piece of design technology developed by Panaz.

WHY THE COFFEE TABLE IS THE SECOND MOST IMPORTANT PIECE OF FURNITURE IN YOUR HOUSE – MAD about the HOUSE

I have written before (if not on these pages then in the first book) about how it is not the kitchen that is the heart of the home but the kitchen table. By which I mean that this table, which symbolises where a family comes together to eat, to work, to meet – perchance to row – and, at the very least,  least to talk of many things (but probably not, these days quite so much of cabbages and kings) is the beating heart of the home. It matters not what the table looks like but more that it exists. The kitchen table is where it all comes together and is perhaps, after a mattress and a sofa, the most important piece of furniture you will buy.

Natural Wool Felt Room Dividers From WoOL Amsterdam – Design Milk

Meet WoOL Amsterdam, a Dutch independent label making high-end, sophisticated room dividers that absorb sound and feel so good to the touch. These room dividers are works of art and made from wool felt, a renewable material that fascinated Dutch designer Ingrid Heijne, the founder and art director at WoOL.

Eight egg-shaped buildings from around the world – dezeen

Just in time for Easter, here are eight buildings shaped like eggs, including a golden sauna in Sweden, beach huts in South Korea and a micro home in Slovakia.

THE 50 BEST INTERIOR DESIGNERS – Country & Town House

The C&TH pick of the 50 best interior designers…

This is the only A-Z you’ll ever need, putting the best UK-based creatives at your fingertips, whether you want to commission bespoke cabinetry or an in-home cinema, restore a Roman palazzo or redesign an avant-garde apartment. By Emma Love

More than 60 years on the Eames Chair is still a classic – Icon

A modern take on the nineteenth-century club chair, the Eames Lounge Chair has become a classic.

The Eames lounge chair and its matching ottoman were design by the husband and wife team for the Herman Miller Furniture Company.

For most of their partnership, Charles and Ray Eames dedicated themselves to designing furniture that could be mass produced at affordable prices. They wanted to develop interior design and decor that was accessible to the average American, but didn’t compromise on aesthetic for its price tag. The Eames Lounge Chair was designed as a luxury item, but one that could also be reproduced easily.

How make-shift solutions are reshaping our future – onOffice

The act of making binds together all cultures and all peoples across all time. Making fire, making bread, making tools, making homes – making describes the simple universal acts that have allowed humans to live and thrive across millennia. The word ‘make’ holds a powerful place in our language; make believe, make space, make sense, make progress, make do, make friends, make love.

ACG WARNING ON COVID-19 ONLINE FRAUDSTERS – Anti Copying In Design

The Anti-Counterfeiting Group (ACG) has joined the Transnational Alliance to Combat Illicit Trade (TRACIT), in warning consumers about the risks and growing availability of fake, falsified and substandard medical and healthcare products and medicines. ACG, the UK’s premier anti-counterfeiting trade association, representing over 3,000 international brands, reports a surge in ineffective, fraudulent products that threaten both public health and efforts to stem the COVID-19 pandemic.

Showcase of Gusto – Spacestor

As a San Francisco-based startup that helps small businesses manage their payrolls, benefits and human resources, Gusto is always up to date with the latest trends in work, technology and design. Their gigantic new office in the former Union Iron Works machine shop at Pier 70, in the up-and-coming neighbourhood of Dogpatch, has been designed by architects and interior designers Gensler, with whom we’re very happy to have an ongoing collaborative relationship – and as you can see, it’s absolutely stunning.

Home libraries on trend! – O&A Design

In our digital era, the idea of “real” comes to the fore. People are tired of Instagram filters, idealised images, and e-books. In interior design we can track people’s instinct to seek out the “real” by the growing popularity of highly tactile finishes, natural materials, patterns inspired by nature and the return of real books into our homes. There is something so special and real about the quietness suggested by a wall of books – and of course the smell of old books transports us to another world.

IS ONLINE INTERIOR DESIGN PART OF OUR FUTURE? – Interior Style Hunter

I’ve written about online interior design services before, a few years ago there were a few tech startups that tried to get into the online design market but seemed to have changed tactics. One of them started as an affordable service for homeowners but I see has now pivoted their service and targeting landlords, Airbnb and property developers.

Personally, I think that online design is only just starting, it’s just that the current offerings don’t really work for the audience. These services are currently very cheap – under £200 a room and in some cases, just £75 for a room design. While I do understand that there are some very talented interior designers working for these companies, but at these rates they don’t have enough time to connect with a client, understand and interpret a brief and set about designing and sourcing.

Dyson creates engineering challenges for kids in lockdown – Design Week

Designers working with the James Dyson Foundation have devised a series of science and engineering tasks they say can help keep kids entertained during lockdown.

The initiative, which is made up of 44 Challenge Cards, aims to provide young people with ample stimulation as families adjust to spending more time at home because of the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent shut down of schools.

Upholstery Production Week 15

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A great performance in the short week last week, including 73 Face Visors delivered for our Stairlifts factories.  Obviously with so many of our team on furlough and with the short week, we’re pleased at our performance last week which was actually higher in products than the full week before.

upholstery production

Products Shipped – 1287

Number of different product types shipped – 53

OTIF – 100%

Click here to read more about our Commercial Upholstery services

Our 20,000 square foot upholstery factory is designed into manufacturing cells with all our processes built to make our Upholstery Production with an efficient and effective use of resources. This allows our 50-strong shop floor team to produce large quantities of high-quality products in short lead times and deliver on time, every time.

Each cell includes CNC fabric cutting, adhesive spraying for foam, multiple sewing machines and machinists, multiple upholstery benches and quality inspection, packing and despatch benches.

Our team are multi-skilled and experienced so that one day we could be making 1500 identical theatre seats, the next we could make a single banquette seat. Our process is designed to adapt to whatever our customers need from us as we don’t make any of our own products – everything we make is for our business customers that need highly reliable deliveries of a range of products.