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A New Upholstery Association Wants to Unite and Rebuild the U.S. Industry
The American upholstery industry recently issued itself a call to action: Now is the time to unite and rebuild, or else… Part SOS, part call to arms, a new generation sought to preserve an industry that was left to perish when vocational upholstery programs closed their doors decades ago. Enter the National Upholstery Association (NUA). Founded by eight professional women upholsterers from seven states, it launched in July 2019 with a mission of “working together to support and advance the field of professional upholstery.” The timing may be critical. Currently, seasoned upholsterers are in short supply. Shops can’t afford the time and resources necessary to provide intensive training. And newcomers…
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Bearing Witness: Extinction
If I hadn’t asked a roomful of students and young professionals to raise their hands if they knew what reupholstery was, and if I had not bore witness to no hands going up, I might not have believed it. I was at a zero waste conference, in SF, in 2018. No awareness? None? A skilled craft that creates local resilience and reduces waste has already gone extinct in some young minds. Who will be the future customers, employees, and business owners of reupholstery services? Is this cause for worry? Yes, and during a climate emergency and with untenable economic inequality, the answer is a resounding yes. Flush with huge investments…
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Market Transformation or Cultural Transaction
We know how to account for embedded carbon and energy in products, but what about the cultural training to find beauty and seek potential in slightly imperfect things? Who provides the skills and training to work with existing materials rather than virgin ones? Our future climate reality will demand this mindset and this skill set. How are we preparing–do we see this as a market transaction or a cultural transformation?
