Susan on Design: How it's Made

For todays post I thought I would do a little designer take on How It's Made. All the steps that go into the making of a custom sofa ordered from Moving Designz. Ever wonder where your custom sofa comes from? I bet you haven't. I didn't either until I became a shop owner.

We've all seen the show or flicked by it on the Discovery Channel seeing how numerous things are made. If or should I say when I actually have the tv time I'll usually stop at that channel and watch because I'm curious. I want to know. I want to share how Canadian made sofas and chairs are constructed and all the steps in between.

In early March I was in Toronto for The Heart and Stroke Foundation's Heart Truth Fashion Show.

It was an amazing evening full of gorgeous "famous" people and beautiful red dresses bringing awareness to a very important health concern that will affect us or our families.

I did the logical thing and combined personal time with business.

While I was in Toronto I visited one of our sofa manufacturers to find out first hand how our custom sofas are made and to order new styles for the shop. Our sofa manufacturer is Statum Designs. Visit them at www.statumdesigns.com

Are you curious like me? How does your sofa get built?

The first step is the designers vision and artist's rendering of the sofas and chairs.

I took these photos directly from the walls surrounding the area where sofa patterns are made. This is the starting point on how each and every sofa and chair frame will be constructed.

Once the building process is figured out, a pattern of stiff cardboard outlining the wood pieces and how they will fit together is made, numbered and named for each piece.

It's just like a jigsaw puzzle waiting to be put together. These pieces will form the frames that our manufacturer will use to produce into sofas and chairs that we sell.

Based on the above patterns the chairs and sofa frames are constructed out of select hardwood for lasting durability. May I just say this facility is huge with endless frames just waiting to be finished.

No sag springs will be added to the frames creating sturdy long lasting sofas and/or chairs.

An assembly line of chairs just waiting to be finished in beautiful custom fabrics.

Fabrics custom options chosen by us and other dealers are allocated to the sofas and chairs. We have hundreds of samples on hand at the shop to coordinate with any room, taste or budget.

The instock fabric wall. Bolts and bolts of fabric just waiting for the next step.

Directly beyond all the fabrics is the cutting table. This is where the fabric is cut out for the individual sofas and chairs.

Next up the sewing table. They sew every piece that will make the cushion covers.

After visiting the sewing department I enter upholstering area with it's mountains of foam and filler. This is where the fabrics and finishing details get applied.