Rohan Blacker explains why he’s gone “all in” on sofas again – and why Schplendid is about doing one thing properly.
“...Schplendid will create the most insanely comfortable, well-made, long-lasting sofas that cost a fraction of what you’d expect...”
Back to sofas (again)
Hello, I’m Rohan, and sofas are on my mind for longer than is strictly natural. Twenty-plus years ago I set up a company called sofa.com, and more recently I diverted into the world of lighting with Pooky.
My main obsession has always been to design and make a product beautifully – and to sell it at a very reasonable price.
This time, having had years to mull it over, I’m getting serious about sofas again. I’m going all in. These sofas are extreme.
Doing one thing properly
So how the hell d’you do that, you holler?
Easy really – and obvious – by an obsessive attention to the sofa itself, at the expense of all fripperies. We sacrifice fancy showrooms, expensive (and annoying) marketing, pushy pointy-shoe-d salesmen, and all unnecessary costs, so that we can lavish care and money on your sofa.
The plan is that our most productive marketing will be the sofa itself. They will be so stupidly, gloriously comfortable that they will (please please forgive the expression) sell themselves. Sofavertising, perhaps.
Because we save elsewhere we have about twice the budget of our competitors to make your sofa.
What goes Into a Schplendid sofa
We craft our sofas with materials that exist in nature only – coconut husk, sheep’s wool, latex and spectacular linens and velvets – the real deal.
If we have to use foam, which we don’t like doing, we use the best plant-based, recyclable foam we can find. Cushions are filled with the lightest, fluffiest, softest Italian goose down from a farm where animal welfare is paramount.
Springs are the beating heart of a sofa, and we are using the most traditional and best out there – eight-way hand-tied coil springs. They bring a whole new level of comfort to your life. The frame? Solid FSC hardwood.
This is the 100-year sofa; built to outlast you, and the next generation too.
The Sofa Problem
The shocking truth is that the life expectancy of a sofa in this country is ten years. The vast majority are filled with horrid plastic foams and fibres and have no chance of biodegrading before the next ice age.
Landfill across the country is filled with old sofas and the sofa companies celebrate because they can flog them more.
We say: BUY WELL, BUY ONCE, and stop this nonsense.
In a nutshell
And that, in a really quite large nutshell, is what I’m all about at Schplendid.
I’m here to help, to serve, and to build the best sofas out there. And I look forward to meeting you.
Why I Started Schplendid: A Sofa Manifesto
Rohan Blacker explains why he’s gone “all in” on sofas again – and why Schplendid is about doing one thing properly.
Back to sofas (again)
Hello, I’m Rohan, and sofas are on my mind for longer than is strictly natural. Twenty-plus years ago I set up a company called sofa.com, and more recently I diverted into the world of lighting with Pooky.
My main obsession has always been to design and make a product beautifully – and to sell it at a very reasonable price.
This time, having had years to mull it over, I’m getting serious about sofas again. I’m going all in. These sofas are extreme.
Doing one thing properly
So how the hell d’you do that, you holler?
Easy really – and obvious – by an obsessive attention to the sofa itself, at the expense of all fripperies. We sacrifice fancy showrooms, expensive (and annoying) marketing, pushy pointy-shoe-d salesmen, and all unnecessary costs, so that we can lavish care and money on your sofa.
The plan is that our most productive marketing will be the sofa itself. They will be so stupidly, gloriously comfortable that they will (please please forgive the expression) sell themselves. Sofavertising, perhaps.
Because we save elsewhere we have about twice the budget of our competitors to make your sofa.
What goes Into a Schplendid sofa
We craft our sofas with materials that exist in nature only – coconut husk, sheep’s wool, latex and spectacular linens and velvets – the real deal.
If we have to use foam, which we don’t like doing, we use the best plant-based, recyclable foam we can find. Cushions are filled with the lightest, fluffiest, softest Italian goose down from a farm where animal welfare is paramount.
Springs are the beating heart of a sofa, and we are using the most traditional and best out there – eight-way hand-tied coil springs. They bring a whole new level of comfort to your life. The frame? Solid FSC hardwood.
This is the 100-year sofa; built to outlast you, and the next generation too.
The Sofa Problem
The shocking truth is that the life expectancy of a sofa in this country is ten years. The vast majority are filled with horrid plastic foams and fibres and have no chance of biodegrading before the next ice age.
Landfill across the country is filled with old sofas and the sofa companies celebrate because they can flog them more.
We say: BUY WELL, BUY ONCE, and stop this nonsense.
In a nutshell
And that, in a really quite large nutshell, is what I’m all about at Schplendid.
I’m here to help, to serve, and to build the best sofas out there. And I look forward to meeting you.