An adjustable test chair with pneumatic controls

An affectionately termed “Big Ugly Chair” adjusts for customers to test dimensions and padding.

Upholstery Journal | June 2008

by Kelly Frush

The Big Ugly Chair was the good–looking solution to upholsterer Don Pearce’s problems. Pearce, of Pearce Upholstery in Costa Mesa, California, constantly heard the question, “Do you have anything I can sit on?”

The Big Ugly Chair is now his answer.

Pearce usually allows his customers, who are mostly designers, to test out chairs he’s currently building. But those works–in–progress are built to someone else’s standards, so the padding and measurements don’t fit the tester. Now customers can check out four different types of seat cushions and back cushions, and find an ideal gut rail depth, seat and arm height by using the electric controls.

“I have a lot of designers that are now bringing their customers over,” Pearce said. “They sit in the chair and play around with the controls until they find something they like.”

Pearce came up with the concept when he rebuilt a RV seat. A pneumatic cylinder handle had broken, which rendered the tilt inoperable. After searching several salvage yards, Pearce put down $25 for a ’70s Cadillac seat and remade the customer’s controls to be completely electric. That’s what triggered the idea.

“I had to work it around other projects” the projects that pay the bills,” Pearce said with a laugh. It took him three years to develop the adjustable chair, which is a hit with customers.

Function rules over fashion with this piece of furniture—that’s why Pearce named it the Big Ugly Chair. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and for Pearce, the real beauty comes when he can custom–build a chair exactly to a customer’s specification.

Do you have a project you’d like us to feature in Save My Seat? Send details of your project, along with before-and-after pictures in the form of print photos or electronic images (tif, eps or jpeg of 300 dpi or greater) to Kelly Frush, Associate Editor, Upholstery Journal, 1801 County Road B West, Roseville, MN 55113, or e–mail them to krfrush@ifai.com. All images become the property of Upholstery Journal and cannot be returned.

Comments

There are not yet any comments.
You can submit a comment using the form below.