What defines Quality and Workmanship in leather furniture?

One of the most oft-asked questions both in the store and on the forum is folks asking which brand is better than other, or is brand _____ any good? The primary focus of the forum here is as an educational base, not as a marketing tool to sell more furniture, so in the vein let me show you something. These are things you can pick up on your own when you go into any furniture store, you just need to learn how to look. Train your eyes, look for details. Focus, don't listen to the sales person, don't pick up price tags.

I was loading this Hancock and Moore ottoman in the truck for delivery and admiring the workmanship on it (yes, Barbara this is coming to your house tomorrow!). It's a simple little ottoman, nothing particularly fancy (the Austin 8131) but because its so simple, it makes an ideal training tool. First lets look at the photo:

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Curves in a piece are hard to do. Any maker can make a piece that is square, or radius-ed off. The Art of Furnituremaking in upholstery is in the curves. Look at the curves in the base of this piece. Notice how tight the leather is pulled before attached to the frame. The edge work is beautiful. The nails - all set by hand one-at-a-time are impressively straight (this is way harder to do than it might appear). The bun foot is in proportion to the scale of the piece, the top pillow has very good alignment to the base (this will never be perfect, but this is as good as it gets) You can see that this simple piece was made with skill and pride in workmanship.

Now let's look at Bradington Young's version of the same ottoman. I happen to have this in my store as well. Yes, its less costly, but it's a mess compared to the workmanship of the H&M piece.

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There is a square base with a radiused corner on the top pillow for starters, and the top pillow doesn't even look like it fits the piece. The feet are way out of proportion and look like they came off a sofa, far too large. The leather is not pulled as tight and not as crisp, the nail trim uninspiring.

Will one outlast the other? Probably not. If all you are looking for is utility-grade furniture then the build on a B-Y piece such as this is perfectly fine. It will hold up, it will wear just fine. But does it look like anyone cared when they built it? No, it doesn't. Just another piece going down the line. The Hancock and Moore ottoman shows craftsmanship - you can see it. Pride in Workmanship.

So learn to look at a piece, examine it for visual balance and artistic merit. It's a pretty good bet if they are taking this much time on the outside, there won't be any short cuts on the inside.