Its handmade!

[drcollie]

A good topic to address is the nature of upholstered furniture, in particular leather furniture. There are two constants in this business:

1) When someone first gets their new furniture after a long wait they are very excited and rightly so, the house is busy and the delivery team (who is always harried and running behind) is anxious to get going and on their way. They thrust a paper into your hand and ask you to sign it and you do, then they go on their merry way.

2) After they leave, the detailed inspection process begins. You are likely to find a number of variances to the furniture you were not planning on seeing. Usually nothing major, but a small mark here or there, a loose thread, a tiny scuff, sometimes a rub mark. These are all to be expected.

In today's world we are used to items coming out perfect. Your new Apple iPad is perfect, not a mark on it. Your new car has no imperfections on it (at least none you can see) and those new Calaphon pots and pans have perfect swirls to them. They are all made in factories using machines and robotics.

Your new leather sofa from North Carolina however is made by hand. An Artisan built piece. There are no robots, no 5 -axis CNC cutters in the workshop, and no computers controlling an operation. When they make furniture, there is lots of hammering, pushing, adjusting and bumping going on. Its physical work and the most modern tools you will see are industrial sewing machines and electric scissors. Because of this, there will be imperfections you can see - I GUARANTEE IT. It doesn't matter who the maker is, or the delivery company, or the dealer you buy from.

In the normal course of business, a dealer such as myself brings a piece in, unpacks it, then inspects it. As I go over the piece I have my master touch-up kit by my side and 25 years experience how to fiddle with these little flaws. Most rarely take more then 10 minutes to fuss with per piece, if that. But when you order long distance, there is no one to look the piece over and do the fiddling! Sure, the delivery companies like to say they 'inspect' the piece for just this thing, but c'mon...we know they don't as a practical matter. YOU get to be the inspector! And of course, there is a tendency to get very excited about these little flaws. I get phone calls or emails post-delivery on about 90 % of all shipped orders dealing with these, and I'm more than happy to explain these as best I can. However, if you are the type of person who really has difficulty with these minor nuances, you should buy locally from a dealer who will do the inspection ahead of time and touchup things before bringing them to you.

Even with the finest touchup, you are still going to find handmade variances. All that nail trim is applied by hand and whacked with a hammer, one at a time. That means even the best nailer in the business will get one out of alignment or strike the leather with the hammer. You're going to see scars in the leather, or tick bites, or a wrinkle where the leather didn't lay just right. All par for the course. There's a fairly wide variance between something being defective and simple handmade tolerances. If you expect perfection, you may be disappointed.

[AZJoe]

Good topic indeed. Now only if you made this a week ago, it would have saved you from my 50 pms.lol But I don't feel as bad seeing the 90% figure.


For me as someone who knows about as much about fine furniture as I do brain surgery it is more about acquiring an understanding about what is acceptable, and what is a flaw that does need addressing.

Honestly, these subtle nuances add some character to the piece, and while I can't speak for anyone else, I do appreciate that. Being someone who is intrigued by true artisans be it bread making, metal working, or furniture making, and feels they are a dying breed, it is amazing to sit here and think about the actual production process of these pieces. I mean really, SOMEONE MADE THIS!


I can without a doubt, or hesitation say this entire buying experience has been an absolute pleasure and I would not change a thing. To anyone reading this on the fence, fear not, you are in good hands.

While we are on the topic, and something that might help someone in the future with a similar question, or better yet save you from getting a PM. If there is a loose thread, do you recommend leaving it be, or cutting it close, via a small sharp pair of scissors?

[drcollie]

Did you get your care card with the sectional? (Sadly, most fail to make the trip, the delivery companies throw them out and I can't convince H&M to physically attach them to the pieces). If you DID get your care booklet, then the people that built your piece actually signed it. Those are not fake signatures, and not done en masse. That card travels to each work station and is signed by that craftsperson along the way. There is a lot of pride of workmanship at that factory, and it shows - everyone who has ever taken a tour can attest to that. And they will tell you that they are the best in the industry at what they do (not just the management party line, but the workers on station). I found myself shaking hands with many of them on my most recent tour and saying "Thank you for doing such an excellent job day in and day out".

And if you get a loose thread, by all means clip it off, but don't clip a loose stitch.

[AZJoe]

Did you get your care card with the sectional? (Sadly, most fail to make the trip, the delivery companies throw them out and I can't convince H&M to physically attach them to the pieces). If you DID get your care booklet, then the people that built your piece actually signed it. Those are not fake signatures, and not done en masse. That card travels to each work station and is signed by that craftsperson along the way. There is a lot of pride of workmanship at that factory, and it shows - everyone who has ever taken a tour can attest to that. And they will tell you that they are the best in the industry at what they do (not just the management party line, but the workers on station). I found myself shaking hands with many of them on my most recent tour and saying "Thank you for doing such an excellent job day in and day out".

And if you get a loose thread, by all means clip it off, but don't clip a loose stitch.

Oh man how cool is that. I did get a few things with it, now you have me curious. I am going on the hunt.

Ok, another rookie question. Thread= 1 end, stitch= still attached but just pulled out(loose)?

[drcollie]

Yes, Threads do have a loose end (most common). A stitch is pulled away, but is still attached on both ends (rare to see this).

[AZJoe]

Thanks for the heads up Duane. I actually glossed right over these! Honestly that is quite possibly the coolest thing I have seen a company do.

32 by Impreziv1, on Flickr

[drcollie]

You got it! Excellent! The Inspector on the bottom card is the plant foreman, he only answers to Jimmy Moore. That one looks like its for the ottoman....as Steve (upholsterer) on the top card is one of the master button tufters that tackles big, tough projects like the Sundance Sectional. Tufting is the most difficult job in the plant, and takes the highest skilled workers (they are also the highest paid). The guys that do the tufting are the Big Dawgs at the plant. I'm sure it took him three full days to do your Sundance Sectional.

[AZJoe]

You got it! Excellent! The Inspector on the bottom card is the plant foreman, he only answers to Jimmy Moore. That one looks like its for the ottoman....as Steve (upholsterer) on the top card is one of the master button tufters that tackles big, tough projects like the Sundance Sectional.

That button tufting is a work of art. I was on my hands and knees today looking at them, admiring how uniform they all were and trying to figure out what the heck is stuffed in the back of the sofa, that gives it that shape.

My wife thinks I am a lunatic, with this sofa. I have been non stop admiring it, since it showed up. She had quite the confused look when she walked in the room, and saw me crawling around behind the sofa. haha

[levitt11]

In the normal course of business, a dealer such as myself brings a piece in, unpacks it, then inspects it. As I go over the piece I have my master touch-up kit by my side and 25 years experience how to fiddle with these little flaws. Most rarely take more then 10 minutes to fuss with per piece, if that. But when you order long distance, there is no one to look the piece over and do the fiddling! Sure, the delivery companies like to say they 'inspect' the piece for just this thing, but c'mon...we know they don't as a practical matter. YOU get to be the inspector! And of course, there is a tendency to get very excited about these little flaws. I get phone calls or emails post-delivery on about 90 % of all shipped orders dealing with these, and I'm more than happy to explain these as best I can. However, if you are the type of person who really has difficulty with these minor nuances, you should buy locally from a dealer who will do the inspection ahead of time and touchup things before bringing them to you.


So when our furniture finally does arrive and I personally inspect and there are minor imperfections and/or flaws as you call them - since this is long distance - am I to contact you? What is the norm here for long distance purchases such as ours? Just wondering since this thread was made

[drcollie]

Well, here's the truth of the matter...I always tell it like it is here on the forum, and I don't sugarcoat things.

Folks buy long distance because they are saving money. If they weren't then in most cases they would get their pieces from a local dealer. Truthfully its not reasonable to expect the same level of service when buying long distance. I certainly can't come by a customer's home with my touch up kit like I can locally because of the hundreds of miles distance. A good dealer always 'deluxes' a piece before delivery (That's the name the industry uses, I think its a peculiar way to say 'touch up'). We go over the pieces and take care of the little things, and in the rare event there is a big thing, we don't deliver to the customer and return it to the maker. Eyes on the piece.

When you are getting delivery long distance YOU are the 'deluxer' that gets to put eyes on the piece. Yes, you are most likely going to find some nuances that you would not otherwise see if the dealer had the opportunity to go over if first. That's the payoff for saving money by buying long distance. I'm always glad to take a call and advise how to touch up something that just arrived, but I can't be there in person to do it. Nor does the industry consider these to be factory defects. My advice always has been - and always will be - for folks that demand perfection (and you know who you are!) pay the higher price and buy locally from your nearest dealer. That way you won't make yourself - or me - crazy over a small nick in the leather or wood on the base.

There are two kinds of imperfections on a new piece. Those that it left with from the factory and those put in by the delivery company. Most delivery company marks will be rub marks or splinters of wood, or water damage (leaky trailer). Try as I might to advise everyone to INSPECT FOR DELIVERY DAMAGE BEFORE SIGNING THE BILL OF LADING, almost no one does. instead they call me an hour after the delivery team has left with the document the customer signed saying all was delivered with no damage. If the delivery company marked something up, note it on the bill of lading - thats so important. And don't let the driver's tell you that if you make a notation for a slight mark, they have to take the piece back....that's a bunch of garbage. Note it and protect your rights, then decide a course of action afterwards.

If a factory mark, then you can either touch it up yourself, or document it and send the dealer photos of it. At that time it will be reviewed to determine how minor or major they might be .