Here are a great selection of London based upholstery companies. Some of them are relatively small and other are very considerable and long-established companies. They are not necessarily at the upper end of the market, nor the bottom. I guess I could more easily say here is a range of upholstery and re-upholstery companies in London ! Enjoy, in no particular order.
Barnes Upholstery – 020 8255 9797 info@barnesupholstery.co.uk/ Sofa And Chair Co – 020 8752 8938 info@thesofaandchair.co.uk
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Whilst we have dealt with some of these companies as clients this post is not intended as a specific recommendation, or otherwise, of any of them.
Apparently this is known as a “Mrs. Godfrey Chair” and is made by Jonathan Adler. We love the textured upholstery linen in a teal like colour and with an interesting detail to the weave and to the upholstery. Of course you can get similar KOTHEA fabric samples from here – we have several ranges of upholstery weight linen.
Annie Stevens have done some great interior designs. Check them out on her website. We do many great fabrics have a look at our upholstery fabrics on our website.
Upholstery Linen is notoriously difficult for interior designers to source. Sourcing linens for curtains is easy enough but often linens are not woven with sufficient strength to score Martindale results that are high enough to warrant using the fabric for upholstery.
Some suppliers can be a little evasive and will quote the weight of the linen as a measure of the linen’s quality. The implication is that the higher the weight the better suited the fabric will be for upholstery. There is some truth in that implication but you cannot say for certain that high-weight linen is inherently suitable for upholstery. Get the Martindale!
Most KOTHEA luxury upholstery linens have inherent Martindale rub tests of around 20,000 rubs with one range further strengthened to 85,000 rubs for contract usage – 20,000 Martindale being eminently suitable for domestic upholstery.
Furthermore, when buying upholstery- (or curtain-) linen you need to know whether or not it will shrink when washed. Linen ALWAYS shrinks. So what you have to find out is whether or not it has been pre-shrunk before you buy it. A common way of pre-shrinking linen is through the sanforisation process.
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Here are the details of our new 2011 upholstery linens that are named Recline, Relax and Restful. We have many others, these are just the new ones:
BS5867 part 2 type B is a contract standard for fire retardancy for CURTAINS.
As an interior designer you do *NOT* need to understand the details of the test nor the performance criteria that needs to be achieved.
However interior designers are responsible for the project/installation and because this is a serious are concerning fire risk you DO NEED to:
– Be certain what standard is required for your project/installation;
– Know that you are specifying fabric that meets the appropriate standard; and
– Prove that the fabric you have installed is up to the job.
So here is what you need to do to achieve that, essentially what you need to do to do your job and to ensure you have covered the bases of your responsibility.
1. Determine the fire retardancy standards that need to be adhered to. This may involve contacting the local fire officer. Determine what documentation you need to provide them.
2. Liaise with your fabric supplier to determine if the fabric either:
– inherently meets the standards; or
– requires treatment.
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3. On purchasing the fabric, specify the treatment required. You would say to the fabric company “Treat the fabric to the contract curtain standard BS 5867 part 2 type B, and provide me with documentation showing this has been done”.
4. What you have done now is to specify what standard of treatment has to be undertaken. By doing that there is no guarantee that the fabric will pass the appropriate test even though it has been treated to a standard where it should pass the test. Normally you will receive a document saying that the fabric has been treated to the standard. THIS DOES NOT MEAN IT HAS PASSED THE STANDARD. You need to determine if you want your specific batch of fabric to be specifically tested (after treatment). For larger projects, this will almost certainly be prudent to undertake. You will need to purchase additional fabric prior to treatment and engage the services of a fabric testing factory (not treatment factory). At the end of that process, you will receive documentation stating that the fabric meets the required standard.
The following test details are not normally required to be known by the designer:
Test method
A sample of the fabric, vertically held, is exposed to a small flame.
For type B (Hotels, etc) the ease of ignition is observed. It is also noted if the flame reaches one any edge of the specimen and/or if any burning pieces of fabric fall down.
For type C (NHS) the fabric is further analysed to see what happens once the flame stops but when the fabric still may be glowing.
NB: The fabric is tested before and after laundering
type B (12 wash cycles at 40°c)
type C (50 wash cycles at 40°c)
Test Performance Criteria
Type B Performance Criteria: The edges must remain completely intact and no burning debris should fall.
