SCP Upholstery

Quality, Longevity and Sustainability

SCP upholstery pieces are defined by three key factors: quality, longevity and sustainability. Since our very first upholstery design in 1991, the Balzac armchair by Matthew Hilton, we have been refining our manufacturing skills, improving the materials that go into the pieces and working ever closer with our designers. The result is a quality of product that we are exceptionally proud of, a product that we offer a lifetime guarantee on, and a product that we believe can improve any environment.

Our upholstery designs are all made by hand at our specialist factory in Norfolk, England, where our small dedicated team ensure total quality control. There are three key stages in the making process: frame-making, pattern-cutting and upholstering.

Frame Making

A dedicated wood-working shop make all of the frames, using FSC approved solid wood, usually beech. They use a variety of woodworking machines in the process, different saws and planers to create the perfect finish on the frame. The frames are then glued and screwed together using traditional methods and quality controlled before they enter the upholstery section of the factory. The lifetime guarantee that SCP offer is on these frames, if they ever break, or get damaged in normal use, SCP will fix them at no cost. So, ensuring they are made to an outstanding build quality is of upmost importance.

The wood shop is where all the frames and wooden components are made using traditional techniques.

Pattern Cutting

While the frames are being made, the corresponding patterns are being cut by the team of seamsters and seamstresses in another part of the factory. They work to patterns that are created when a piece is first developed by SCP, this is when the designer comes to the factory, usually a number of times over a 6 to 12 month period, where they refine their designs, from computer generated drawings, to real life objects.

Marking and cutting at the table.

Upholstering

Once the frame and the fabric are prepared, the design goes into the final stage of development, when it is upholstered by hand, using little more than simple tools, a compressed air staple gun a lot of dedication. Our policy is that each single upholstery piece is worked on by one single upholsterer, who takes care of the design and ensures it is perfect before it leaves the factory floor for a final quality control check.

Many of our upholsterers have worked at the factory for a number of years, and their knowledge and understanding of the materials, of intricate hand work and of how to resolve problems is invaluable in ensuring a quality product.

The lengthy and intricate work of upholstering Matthew Hilton's Balzac armchair is underway.

This final upholstery stage in the making process is a lengthy process, and can take between four to six hours to complete, depending on the product itself. What we ensure is that all work is done in a measured and correct way, and the factory is a collaborative environment where our staff, both experienced members of the team and those taking an apprenticeship, can support each other in solving problems and can constantly strive to make product better.

 

An apprentice upholsterer at work on the Oscar sofa by Matthew Hilton.

Sustainable & Hardwearing Materials

To ensure a sustainable product, SCP uses a range of natural materials in the upholstery process as a replacement for foam, which is a petrochemical based product. SCP uses alternatives like rubberised coconut hair and needled wool for fillings and pure feather cushion pads.

In 2023, SCP launched the first full collection that uses 100% Sustainable and Natural materials. The SCP 2023 Upholstery Collection was designed from the ground up to ensure that foam was excluded from the making process.

Throughout 2023 the SCP Product Development team has also been working on reverse engineering all previous SCP designs to remove foam from them as well. As of the end of 2023, of 31 different SCP designs in production, 24 of them are now foam-free, 3 use 90% natural and sustainable materials with 10% recycled foam, and 4 use less than 90% natural and sustainable materials. The aim is by mid-2024, all SCP designs will use 100% natural and sustainable materials.

 

"Our policy now is that all new upholstery designs are made from fully sustainable materials."

Sheridan Coakley
Sustainable materials, used in the making of SCP upholstery.
Fabrics and thread at the factory.

Fabric Selection

SCP work with many industry leading fabric suppliers. We offer over a selection of over 70 fabrics online and many more in-store. Customers are also able to provide their own fabric but must provide a certificate from the fabric supplier to confirm that it passes UK fire regulations, including cigarette and match tests. Browse our fabrics here.

Designer Philippe Malouin on a product development visit, with factory Director Tim Cox and SCP founder Sheridan Coakley.
SCP Factory Detail with scissors
Pattern cutting at the SCP Factory

Design & Development

We work with leading designers from all different disciplines to create our upholstery pieces. Since our first upholstery design by Matthew Hilton in 1991, we have worked with classic industrial designers, but also with artists, textiles designers and even ceramists to create our pieces. From this wealth of different perspectives we have learned that there is no ideal fixed knowledge in approaching upholstery design, but rather, experimentation and a hands on approach is what gets the best results. This is why we work so closely with our designers, creating bonds that go beyond the simple client and designer relationship, our designers become part of the SCP family, and their inquisitive nature and desire to shape the future gives us the energy and joy to keep creating wonderful objects, for now, and for tomorrow.

All of the SCP designers express how complicated it is working with upholstery, which is essentially just the layering of different materials to create a form; rather than having one single material to create a form, be it wood, metal or plastic. Creating a design in upholstered form is an inexact art, quite unlike some other forms of design, which is why we work so closely with our designers to create SCP pieces. They quite literally pull, push and manipulate material into form during the product development process, and their input is crucial in making our products both beautiful objects and resolved designs.

Find out more about SCP’s designers here.

Find out more about SCP’s Natural and Sustainable materials here.

SCP Upholstery Collection