Our Atelier

Bolstead House is one workroom on the ground floor of a former grain store at Wardlow Yard. Eleven people work here: four upholsterers, two machinists, a cutter, a frame maker, and three of us who answer the telephone and sweep up.

Why the frames are beech

Kiln-dried beech at around ten per cent moisture content is stable, takes a dowel without splitting, and is stiff enough that a corner block actually does something. It is heavier than the ply and softwood most sofas are built from, and that weight is the guarantee.

Every frame carries twenty years. Springs and webbing carry ten. Cloth and fill carry two, because they are the parts you wear out rather than the parts that fail.

Come and see it

The workroom is open Tuesday to Saturday. There is no showroom as such — there is a cutting table, a rack of cloth and whatever is being built that week. Ring first and we will make sure there is something worth looking at on the stands.