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Upholstered Objects

Our clientele and objects range from complicated private and institutional pieces to simple family heirlooms.

What is important about the work is the way treatments are performed.Our techniques save the original components, including original stuffings or internals, whenever possible.We clean internals and reuse them, which is the ultimate green practice.

Our practice does not condone discarding the internals, even if they have been modified, precisely because we believe the art of the upholsterer is part of the history of furniture building. Often original upholstery has been modified not excavated. The materials and techniques used in original upholstery and even in modifications reveal historical information about the time frames of both original and modified internals and regional techniques.

There are occasions, though rare, where prosthetics are created for frames too undermined for reupholstery. In those cases MPFC does not use ethafoam inserts, which is a popular technique in conservation today. We prefer to stuff specially engineered prosthetics with period appropriate materials using authentic stitching techniques specific to the region and century of the piece.

We work with restorative techniques which are era-appropriate, and traditional finish methods. Reversible barriers are used to protect original finishes when appropriate. We create most of our own finish materials and hide glues, or obtain our hide glue from a reputable, conservation-minded, non-commercial source.

In addition to the projects shown on this page, we have the following individual pages offering specific upholstered object resumes:

• Sofas, Love Seats + Recamiers
• Modern Classics.
• Rockers.
• Upholstered Chairs + Benches
• Slipcovers
• The Hearst Castle® Flemish Sofa Treatment
• Upholstered pieces for the Imperial Monterey Furniture from Crater Lake National Park
• Upholstered pieces for the Mason Monterey Furniture from the Oregon Caves National Monument.