Tag: seating

Afrotechicolour therapy.. A wax block print patchwork chair

Written by Ray Clarke on . Posted in Modern, modern upholstery projects, News. No Comments on Afrotechicolour therapy.. A wax block print patchwork chair

 

Before:

Rick Holland Donor chair4


This Mid-20th century modern piece was given to me back in 2010 by super talented artist, print & textiles designer and all round lovely lady Hannah Edy.

Although it was very much the worse for wear I faithfully kept it in storage thinking “That’ll be a great chair again someday..”

The opportunity to transform this piece came just after Xmas 2014, when a lovely couple contacted me from Mill Hill, NW7 and then made a few journeys’ down to my studio to chat with me about a piece they had previously seen online of my first attempt, a tub chair, at an waxblock patchwork print from a collaboration with Chantal Koning YouMeWe .

The process of transforming and updating this piece was a totally different challenge from my first version.

..A chair can take 8 hours or, in this case 40+ . It depends on your customers budget & ultimately how much love and care you wish to put into its re-upholstery.

This chair alone involves 74 carefully selected , cut, made compliant and stitched panels.

AFTER:

With new fillings of new rubberised hair and foams replaced the hopelessly deteriorated & crumbly foams.  A brand new serpentine spring suspension system, all lashed together(so the springs move in unison)upgraded and replaced the broken dried out Pirelli webbing which was originally stapled to the frame . The buttons are Nobilis Velvet, along with the fabrics, were chosen specifically and carefully between myself and the customer with all fabrics made compliant to the Health,Safety & Fire Regs (1988) through the use of a flame retardant barriercloth.

The Ottoman stools were built from scratch, along with a pair of duck,n,down feather-filled Scatter cushions

My deep thanks go out to Anna who assisted in the rip-down and was a great help for me to bounce off fabric selection ideas, Chantal Koning of YouMeWe for fabric inspiration and sourcing

and to Rick Holland & Katie Pomklova for their patience and input while I put together this work for them.

 2015-05-16 11.27.44

 

 

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Getting off the Bench: Reworking a B&B Italia piece…

Written by Ray Clarke on . Posted in News. No Comments on Getting off the Bench: Reworking a B&B Italia piece…

 

Before:

Before B&B Italia Charles Bench

I was asked by my customer to take this B&B Italia Italia “Charles” Bench , reduce it’s height by 1″and then deep-button (or “tuft” if you are reading this in the US) in a Sanderson Taormina velvet replacing the tired,

cat scratched and shrunk-in the-wash look of its original cover.

“Looks simple enough a task to me” you might say, until you realise upon removing the cover what is going on underneath; that the whole frame is made from

steel tubing and the high density foam sits directly on a bed of super strength jumbo elastic 3″ webbing.

Of the various ways that could secure the buttoning (sorry, saying “tufting” just doesn’t work for me!), I wanted to use a system that I felt would have the most inflexibility, by which I mean that over time, the pleats wouldn’t be tempted to move around over the foam and elasticated base, while still retaining the look and finish that would still respect the overall original design for Antonio Citterio for B&B Italia by Antonio Citterio

Processes I employed involved getting the whole foam cut down on a giant foam cutting bandsaw, removing the foam entirely from the frame, applying 120z hessian to the base of the foams, removing rubber strips from the tubular steel frame and introducing cut hardwood patterns to provide a tackable surface to secure the buttoning cord and cutting, and fitting extra wood strips as well as applying 1″ extra foam and sundries around the base of the bench which helped to “fill” the gap left between the legs and the base of the bench left from fitting the new cover.

As well as successfully “Van-Dyking” the Velvet as the overall bench width was wider then then width of the roll when taking into consideration the direction of the pile

After

2015-01-27 10.28.38-1

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“Sweets for my Suite”…An Art Deco-style 3-piece in Designers Guild Richelieu Dusk & Aubergine

Written by Ray Clarke on . Posted in News. No Comments on “Sweets for my Suite”…An Art Deco-style 3-piece in Designers Guild Richelieu Dusk & Aubergine

My sincerest thanks to Aine Sheehan for her french polishing,  and finishing(hand-sewing)skills, Anna F for her pattern-forming & cutting and Ola (of Global Chauffeurs ), as well as Addison Lee vans for assisting me in the refurbishment,recover ,production and delivery of a 3-piece art-deco-style suite and complete set of 16 bespoke banquette seat cushions for a very patient high-profile client in Clapham, South London. A lot of stitching (particularly double-piping)went into this. Many lessons in time, human resourcing and project management learned.

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Bespoke seating

Written by Ray Clarke on . Posted in News. No Comments on Bespoke seating

Piped bench seating pads in Flocks Algate East Minor delivered to happy client At the end of February to SE22..
Sometimes pulling the all-nighter is worth it if nothing else  just to see their faces light up when their bespoke items are delivered personally.Angela-Rush-Seat-Pads-

Atelier Ray Clarke Ltd T/A Ray Clarke Upholstery & Design Company registration number :12018355

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