A sofa is a pretty big purchase, one of the great domestic objects. It takes up a lot of space, is heavily used, sprawled on, jumped on, and likely to witness more of family life than almost anything else in the home. A toaster it ain’t.
So it seems odd – very odd, really – that so many modern sofas are made as though nobody expects them to be around for very long.
They look lovely on a website or in the showroom, but under the fabric there is often a less romantic story: cheap springs, petrochemical foam, synthetic fibres, flimsy frames and materials that gradually flatten, sag or give up.
At Schplendid, we think a sofa should have a longer view of life.
Not every sofa needs to become an heirloom, obviously. We are not suggesting that your great-grandchildren should be gathering round your three-seater in hushed reverence (though it might be nice).
But we do think a proper sofa should be built with the possibility of a future. It should be made well enough to last and good enough to be moved, lived with, re-covered as needed and loved for many years.
Possibly even handed down, if the next generation has the good sense to want it.
What makes a sofa worth keeping?
The strange thing about sofas is that most of the important decisions are hidden.
You choose the shape, the colour and the fabric, and you imagine it in the room. All perfectly reasonable, but the life of the sofa is actually decided on the inside of the thing.
What really matters for longevity are the quality of the frame, the joints, the springs and the stuffing – and how all those things are put together.
The modern furniture industry is very good at surface but less keen to talk about what is actually under the bonnet.
We at Schplendid on the other hand are very keen to talk about that. If you want to build a sofa that could be handed down, you have to start with the bits nobody sees.
The frame is the future
The frame is the skeleton of the sofa. If it twists, wobbles or cracks, there is basically nothing that can save the sofa.
So we make ours from sustainable solid beech hardwood.
Beech is the traditional timber for serious sofa-making: strong, stable and well suited to the job.
In terms of construction, staples have their place but they should definitely not be doing all the heavy lifting. We use proper joints in the places that matter – dovetails, dowels, glue and screws.
That is how we are able to guarantee our frames for life – and it’s why there’s a real possibility your sofa can last a lot longer than one lifetime, just as furniture used to do.
The inside matters
Once the frame is right, the rest of the sofa has to earn its keep too. That is why Schplendid sofas are made with:
-
Eight-way hand-tied coil springs, rather than the quick, cheap zig-zag springs used in most modern sofas. Each spring is tied to its neighbours, creating a responsive seat that works as a system, not a set of separate bouncy bits.
-
Natural upholstery layers, including coconut husk, natural latex and wool wherever we can use them. These materials breathe, recover and feel good – and they belong rather more to the natural world than a block of petrochemical foam does.
-
Proper down cushions, filled with Italian goose down and feather for softness, depth and natural resilience. They may occasionally need a little plumping, but then so do most good things in life.
-
Good natural fabrics, including linen and cotton velvet, with no strange sprayed-on “clever” coatings between you and the material.
This isn’t innovation, exactly. Really, it’s just how good sofas used to be made: good stuff, put together properly by skilled hands.
What is unusual is doing it now, at anything like a sensible price.
Sadly the modern sofa industry has gone down the path of faster production and cheap fillings, showrooms and sales cycles, plus big mark-ups on fabrics. And too many sofas that end up in landfill or the incinerator long before they should.
Put the money where the sitting happens
Traditionally made sofas do exist, of course, but the trouble is that many of them live in a world of “price on application” and country house proportions.
At Schplendid we’re trying to do something different. We think that beautiful, well-made things that last forever should be available to as many people as possible.
We spend money on the sofa itself, and we do not spend it on showrooms, sales commissions, fake discounts or complicated pricing games.
Our pricing is simple yet radical: we work out what it costs to make the sofa properly, add the margin we need to run the business, and stop there.
That means if a material costs us more, we pass on the actual difference, not a wildly inflated percentage. It means we can put better ingredients into the sofa without turning it into a museum piece for millionaires.
That is the whole Schplendid trick, really: put the money where the sitting happens.
A sofa should be allowed another chapter
A properly made sofa can be cleaned, repaired, recovered and given another chapter. That is what good furniture has always done. It does not remain pristine and untouched but adapts, survives, gets moved around, changes hands, changes clothes, and carries on.
Of course, not every Schplendid sofa will be handed down to grandchildren, but we can build a sofa that deserves the chance. That's what it means to make furniture properly.
See also:
10 Ways We’re (Nicely) Shaking Up the Sofa Industry
How to Keep Your Sofa Looking Schplendid - A Guide to Regular Sofa Care
When Furniture Had a Future
What It Means to Build a Sofa You Could Hand Down
A sofa is a pretty big purchase, one of the great domestic objects. It takes up a lot of space, is heavily used, sprawled on, jumped on, and likely to witness more of family life than almost anything else in the home. A toaster it ain’t.
So it seems odd – very odd, really – that so many modern sofas are made as though nobody expects them to be around for very long.
They look lovely on a website or in the showroom, but under the fabric there is often a less romantic story: cheap springs, petrochemical foam, synthetic fibres, flimsy frames and materials that gradually flatten, sag or give up.
At Schplendid, we think a sofa should have a longer view of life.
Not every sofa needs to become an heirloom, obviously. We are not suggesting that your great-grandchildren should be gathering round your three-seater in hushed reverence (though it might be nice).
But we do think a proper sofa should be built with the possibility of a future. It should be made well enough to last and good enough to be moved, lived with, re-covered as needed and loved for many years.
Possibly even handed down, if the next generation has the good sense to want it.
What makes a sofa worth keeping?
The strange thing about sofas is that most of the important decisions are hidden.
You choose the shape, the colour and the fabric, and you imagine it in the room. All perfectly reasonable, but the life of the sofa is actually decided on the inside of the thing.
What really matters for longevity are the quality of the frame, the joints, the springs and the stuffing – and how all those things are put together.
The modern furniture industry is very good at surface but less keen to talk about what is actually under the bonnet.
We at Schplendid on the other hand are very keen to talk about that. If you want to build a sofa that could be handed down, you have to start with the bits nobody sees.
The frame is the future
The frame is the skeleton of the sofa. If it twists, wobbles or cracks, there is basically nothing that can save the sofa.
So we make ours from sustainable solid beech hardwood.
Beech is the traditional timber for serious sofa-making: strong, stable and well suited to the job.
In terms of construction, staples have their place but they should definitely not be doing all the heavy lifting. We use proper joints in the places that matter – dovetails, dowels, glue and screws.
That is how we are able to guarantee our frames for life – and it’s why there’s a real possibility your sofa can last a lot longer than one lifetime, just as furniture used to do.
The inside matters
Once the frame is right, the rest of the sofa has to earn its keep too. That is why Schplendid sofas are made with:
Eight-way hand-tied coil springs, rather than the quick, cheap zig-zag springs used in most modern sofas. Each spring is tied to its neighbours, creating a responsive seat that works as a system, not a set of separate bouncy bits.
Natural upholstery layers, including coconut husk, natural latex and wool wherever we can use them. These materials breathe, recover and feel good – and they belong rather more to the natural world than a block of petrochemical foam does.
Proper down cushions, filled with Italian goose down and feather for softness, depth and natural resilience. They may occasionally need a little plumping, but then so do most good things in life.
Good natural fabrics, including linen and cotton velvet, with no strange sprayed-on “clever” coatings between you and the material.
This isn’t innovation, exactly. Really, it’s just how good sofas used to be made: good stuff, put together properly by skilled hands.
What is unusual is doing it now, at anything like a sensible price.
Sadly the modern sofa industry has gone down the path of faster production and cheap fillings, showrooms and sales cycles, plus big mark-ups on fabrics. And too many sofas that end up in landfill or the incinerator long before they should.
Put the money where the sitting happens
Traditionally made sofas do exist, of course, but the trouble is that many of them live in a world of “price on application” and country house proportions.
At Schplendid we’re trying to do something different. We think that beautiful, well-made things that last forever should be available to as many people as possible.
We spend money on the sofa itself, and we do not spend it on showrooms, sales commissions, fake discounts or complicated pricing games.
Our pricing is simple yet radical: we work out what it costs to make the sofa properly, add the margin we need to run the business, and stop there.
That means if a material costs us more, we pass on the actual difference, not a wildly inflated percentage. It means we can put better ingredients into the sofa without turning it into a museum piece for millionaires.
That is the whole Schplendid trick, really: put the money where the sitting happens.
A sofa should be allowed another chapter
A properly made sofa can be cleaned, repaired, recovered and given another chapter. That is what good furniture has always done. It does not remain pristine and untouched but adapts, survives, gets moved around, changes hands, changes clothes, and carries on.
Of course, not every Schplendid sofa will be handed down to grandchildren, but we can build a sofa that deserves the chance. That's what it means to make furniture properly.
See also:
10 Ways We’re (Nicely) Shaking Up the Sofa Industry
How to Keep Your Sofa Looking Schplendid - A Guide to Regular Sofa Care
When Furniture Had a Future