Cushion Works turns 35!

After the Holiday Break Tang Welcomes Us Back to Work

Magazines We Like!

Flipping through the terrific book and periodical selection at the Museum of Craft & Design in San Francisco we found Dirty Furniture, it's debut issue is right up our alley because it is all about sofas!  Articles cover such diverse and wonderful subjects as odd objects found in sofas, how foam is made, a great photo essay on artist's sofa designs and Freud's sofa.

In our shop we have the perfect pile of old cushion foam on which to display our prize copy of Dirty Furniture.

As long as we are recommending favorite publications, we also cannot get enough of Apartamento.  What's in it you ask?  What ISN'T in it we reply.  Anything goes in this magazine, from Picasso and Gary Panter's home studios (no, they didn't live together) to a gorgeous painted essay by Jean-Phillipe Delhomme.  We like it that the editorial approach isn't about perfect spaces that are designed for the photographic team that arrived the day after everything was installed, but rather these are real lived in spaces that are reflective of the personalities of the owners and are often, thankfully, a bit messy.

Upholsterer Don Miller enjoys the latest issue of Apartamento.

Back Cushion Rejuvenation

Most furniture ships with back cushions filled with either polyester or a down/feather blend and sometimes with down/feather blended with polyester.  With normal use the polyester filled inserts will start to show wear and begin to sag.

We were recently brought some sagging fiber/down filled backs.  Fiber/down is the filling that blends down/feather with polyester.  Although down/feather on it's own is fluffable, once it's blended with polyester it gets tangled in the poly fibers and as the batting wads up and flattens, so too does the down/feather.  These cushions had lost their fullness, were drooping severely and provided no support (the picture below says it all) for their owners.

We emptied the backs of the fiber/down filling, as you can see it comes out in ropey bands of wadded up polyester and feathers.

After emptying the tick, we refilled it with Cluster Fiber, making the insert very firm, supportive and full.

Lots of Cluster Fiber filled into the existing tick makes the insert much fuller and firmer than before.

The new cushion is dramatically fuller than the old cushion.

By the way, we never mix down/feather with polyester.  Either we make a polyester filled cushion which is firm, or a down/feather cushion which is fluffable, or a foam core poly

Jay Nelson's Tree House

We're very excited to see this article in the SF Chronicle about Jay Nelson's latest tree house.  Not only is the house original and cool, we got to contribute to it as well by making the cushion inserts for the benches.  The covers were expertly made by Catlin Weatherill, who tailored all the unique angles that were part of Jay's design.  We would love to hang out in this tree house and listen to Peter Rabbit on the phonograph all day.

100% Natural Latex Foam

We are now carrying bouncy, heavy, anti-microbial, Oeko-Tex Standard 100 certified, flame retardant free 100% Natural Latex Foam.  It's available in 30" x 80" sheets, 3", 4" and 5" thick.  We can also cut and glue it to size.  Call or email us with your dimensions.

The holes are the result of the pins that are part of the mold that is used to make the finished product.

The Latex carries the Oeko-Tex Standard 100 label (this one was checked by Shirley)

Beautiful Embroidery

Leong Interiors, one of our favorite customers, has expanded their offerings to include custom embroidery!  Take a look at the 12 x 18 lumbar pillows we had monogramed for friends.  If these pillows look as good to you as they do to us, you can contact Leong Interiors here or go to her website:  www.leonginteriors.com