Business

Collaboration with designers can grow your business

Working with an interior designer can be beneficial to your business

Upholstery Journal | February 2008

by Maura Keller

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Partners in progress

For consumers, decorating a home or office can be a trying experience, particularly if they don’t know the lingo, can’t afford to make mistakes, and never gave much thought to whether they prefer Bauhaus to high Georgian. Because today’s interior designs represent a curious amalgam of styles, consumers are turning to interior designers to draw out a style that reflects what they’re about.

While interior designers hone in on a client’s stylistic instincts, they also introduce them to idioms that they may never have considered. Interior designers live by the motto, “It’s in the details,” to help consumers discover the design elements that make a house a home.

A designer’s job is to enhance the look and function of interior spaces, and a good designer can save consumers time and money. For today’s savvy consumers, good upholsterers and interior designers go hand-in-hand because successful designers and upholsterers pride themselves on not designing for their own tastes. Instead, they draw from their knowledge, resources and experience to develop the individual style of the client.

Homeowners recognize that choosing upholstered furniture can raise questions, like what kind of material will wear best in high traffic area, or the appropriate fabric for an ottoman that will host its share of feet and snack trays, or where to find replacement cushions for an antique dining room settee? Upholsterers and interior designers know these answers, and working with them will save clients the time of searching for the right products and the cost of mistakes.

“The common thread of any successful upholstery shop is working with a strong team of designers,” says Paul Bergeron, owner of P.J. Bergeron Inc., Assonet, Mass. “Designers are a critical aspect of our work. To get to the type of clientele that can pay for high-end upholstery work, you need to partner with high-end designers who can provide the clientele you are looking for.”

Working for the common good

The relationship between a designer and an upholsterer is a kind of marriage, built on trust and understanding and that requires communication. Designers and upholsterers are schooled to look at the big picture to help their clients avoid costly mistakes.

“When I work with interior designers, they depend on me to be upfront on the proper use of a particular fabric,” says Monte Wright, owner of Heirloom Upholstery in Danbury, Conn. “Even the great designers may choose an inappropriate type of material for an application. That’s when I try to explain why it won’t work. It’s this effort that makes us work well together.”

Upholsterers consider the type of use a piece of furniture will receive, how much the client is willing to give for its upkeep, and how long they expect it to last. They also take into account the use and size of the room where the piece will be located.

“We try to understand all of the specifics around a particular job,” Wright says. “Having all of the information ensures that we are all on the same page and that there are no surprises.” That’s why, when working with designers or any clients, Wright prefers having everything “on paper” to ensure they share a common vision for an upholstered piece.

“The quality of your work needs to speak for itself so that you can earn the trust of elite designers and showcase a reputation that helps make a name for yourself,” Bergeron says. “You can’t afford to make mistakes because, essentially, the designer becomes your sales team.”

So how do interior designers find upholsterers—and vice versa?

“Typically, designers ask other designers, showroomstaff and others in the industry for a referral,” says Patricia Floyd, principal at P.F. and Associates/Interior Design Inc. in Plymouth, Minn. “We would not just pick one out the telephone book or from an ad without having some information from designers who have used the particular upholsterer.”

When identifying potential upholsterers, Floyd looks at the longevity of their business, references and the designers they’ve worked with in the past, so she can contact them. “I also examine how much they charge for various services and the typical turnaround time for most jobs,” she says. “But mostly I look at the length of their experience and the quality of their work. They need to be able to work with the designer, give input when asked and verify that they understand exactly what the designer wants.”

Wright does not actively seek designers. He relies on being referred throughout the design community, and he does pay attention to the level of experience a designer brings to the table.

“The level of experience will always show because a designer can’t fake their background,” Wright says. “Some designers are what I call ‘hobbyists,’ who have not been educated in the industry. They don’t know the terminology, or call a chair by the wrong style.”

For Kim Rose, an interior designer at Studio Hive in Minneapolis, her first impression when speaking with a new upholstery service is based on a few key attributes: Are they willing to take on new business, does their schedule allow for a reasonable turnaround time, is their work process interactive and service oriented, and are they prepared to answer a lot of questions?

“I’ve worked with large shops for commercial projects and small shops for residential projects,” Rose says. “I seek the same level of personalized service from both businesses. I look for someone who runs the business professionally, returns calls in a timely manner and is prepared to discuss the details of the job and make recommendations to ensure that I get the results I’m after.I rely on the upholsterer’s extensive knowledge to confirm my fabric selections and detailing ideas for the various pieces will work.I need to be told if the fabrics I select for a particular upholstered piece might do something unexpected, such as pull on a curve or bunch in a detail.Those are the things a good upholsterer will catch.”

Upholstery basics, like pattern matching or fine tuning the shape of the foam and fill are also a must.“The upholsterers that I work with are wonderful at visualizing the layers needed to create a crown on a seat or a tight fit on a corner,” Rose says. “They point out potential issues related to fabric and details.The upholsterer has an important role in my business by adding expertise to ensure that my client’s project will be done well.”

Streamlined process

Like in most professional relationships, designers and upholsterers typically follow a streamlined process. Floyd has learned through her experiences to expect an upholsterer to have a written price sheet that shows what they charge to reupholster a chair, with skirt or not, sofa, pillows, ottomans and so forth.

“After giving the upholsterer the width of the fabric, as well as the horizontal repeat, vertical repeat and fabric content, he or she will tell us how much fabric is needed,” Floyd says. “The designer orders the fabric and has it shipped to the upholsterer. The upholsterer inspects it, and then notifies the designer when to expect the job to be completed. At that time, the upholsterer may request a deposit of half down, with the balance due upon completion.”

Wright finds that because the interior designer owns the primary fabrics and trim, he essentially provides the frames, padding and smaller elements. “Because building the frame requires out-of-pocket expenses, I typically require the entire frame to be paid up front.”

For Floyd, it is up to the designer to guide the upholsterer in the direction that the designer envisions for the final project.“The designer, after all, has the “total vision” for the job, which encompasses fabrics, lighting, plumbing, paint colors, wall coverings and the placement of furnishing,” she says. “The upholstery is a piece to the puzzle.”

When Rose engages an upholsterer, she’ll request a bid for the items to be completed and then work from there, fine tuning the pricing as they work out the details.“This may involve a bit more labor in the end, but at least I know what the base price is for the project, and I can prepare the client for the costs,” she says.

Rose says that typically the larger shops will buy the material that she specifies, mark it up and then provide the labor to make up the piece. There are also delivery charges, sales tax on materials and cost for stain guard on fabrics.

“Most designers will then mark up the finished piece before selling to the client,” Rose says. “I don’t do this, and I never take a commission on a piece.I charge my clients for the time to design and commission the item so that my fee reflects my work on the project.”

With smaller shops for residential jobs, Rose buys the fabric for the upholsterer. The upholsterer provides labor and delivery.“This works well for clients who need an upholstery service but don’t have a large budget,” she says. “I will pass on the reduced cost of the fabric to the client, so the overall cost is lower in the end.”

While Bergeron solicits established designers with whom to work, he focuses on making their jobs easier. For example, his new 2,200-square-foot showroom is geared toward designers. “I am able to sell a high-end level of fabric to designers at wholesale prices so that they don’t have to head to the design center in Boston,” he says. “It’s all about making things more streamlined for them and their clients.”

Benefits aplenty

A committed relationship between an interior designer and an upholsterer can bring long-term success for both parties.

“If a designer has developed a long-standing relationship with an upholsterer, and the designer or design firm does a great deal of business with that upholsterer, there is the opportunity for the upholsterer to become known to the designer’s or firm’s clients and client’s friends and family,” Floyd says. “This allows the possibility of getting more business to that upholsterer. And if the upholsterer’s work is better than most, and they create unique ways of doing things and provide outstanding finished products, word of mouth may filter down to other parts of the industry, such as yacht upholstery and commercial work.”

Rose considers upholsterers as collaborators.“We need to share ideas and concerns to turn out the best products,” she says. “I bring the aesthetic to the table as I know what my client wants, and the upholsterer adds to the style I’ve selected and then helps fine tune the details. Typically, I send pieces of the fabric with a photo of the furniture item to my upholsterer prior to making a final selection with my client. I’ll often have the upholsterer out to see the piece and discuss the project.This review sidesteps potential problems, and the projects tend to go smoothly once underway.

Rose recently set an upholstery record of sorts, having a client’s sofa reupholstered three times within three years. “I ordered a custom piece with two fabric schemes for my client’s family room”, she says. “Not long after the original delivery, my client’s dog drooled all over the sofa and ruined the fabric.So, I had the piece sent out and redone in the original colors. The client recently moved to a new house and opted to reupholster the piece in a different fabric.Hopefully, the third time is a charm.”

Upholsterers rely on designers’ current knowledge of the latest fabric trends. “While most of my work is currently on antique pieces, I also do a large amount of commercial work, so I look to designers because they know the ‘fashion immediacy’ that I simply can’t keep on top of,” Wright says. “They travel frequently and see the most current fabrics and hottest design trends. This knowledge helps in our relationship.”

Upholsterers and designers agree that there are benefits to working together. Wright says that one drawback for smaller upholsterers is that they have to make their profit on the labor or delivery costs when the fabric is provided by the designer and/or client. “The fabric can add 40 percent to the bottom line of most jobs, so when I don’t sell the fabric, I have to rely solely on my labor income. That can be detrimental at times.”

So, what advice do designers and upholsterers give each other to establish a solid, long-lasting foundation?

“In this day and age, it is advisable to be more creative in the types of business to pursue,” Floyd says. “An upholsterer, as well as the designer, should always be searching for additional ways to be of service to many industries. With the price of fabrics, and the labor,merely reupholstering a piece of furniture can be quite costly. The choice to do that is not as prevalent as it once was. So, the workmanship on the upholstering needs to be top notch.”

Indeed. “A skilled upholsterer plays a vital role in the success of a client project,” Rose says. “When upholsterers assist designers in working out the key details, the end product will speak for itself.”

Maura Keller is a freelance writer from Plymouth, Minn.

“Designers are a critical aspect of our work. To get to the type of clientele that can pay for high-end upholstery work, you need to partner with high-end designers who can provide the clientele you are looking for,” says Paul Bergeron.
“While most of my work is currently on antique pieces, I also do a large amount of commercial work, so I look to designers because they know the ‘fashion immediacy’ that I simply can’t keep on top of,” says Monte Wright, Heirloom Upholstery.