What you should know about Casco Bay Furniture’s Manchester leather sofa featured in Brompton Cocoa

The Manchester Sofa has a classic rolled arm design. This style was made popular by Restoration Hardware’s Lancaster sofa and other large catalog companies. This style has been one of the most popular sofas in the industry for decades. Compare the quality of our Manchester Leather Sofa to Restoration Hardware’s Lancaster Leather Sofa and those offered by other large catalog companies and retailers. Our version of this sofa, The Manchester is handcrafted by Jonathan Wesley Furniture, in a state of the art manufacturing facility in Taylorsville, North Carolina. The owner of our factory has been making high quality upholstered furniture for over 42 years. Prior to owning his own factory he was the plant manager for Taylor King Furniture owned by his family and also located in Taylorsville, NC. Taylor King was later purchased by Hancock and Moore where he remained after the sale prior to opening Jonathan Wesley Furniture.

Often when people go out to buy a new sofa or chair, their first consideration is how it looks and how it feels. Yet, I have found that buying a sofa is kind of like buying a car. If you want something that is going to last over time, you need to know what is “under the hood.”

What You Should Know About Our Kingsbridge Tufted Sofa

The Kensington Tufted Sofa is a classic Chesterfield design made popular by several Catalog Companies. Compare our Kingsbridge Leather Sofa to the Restoration Hardware’s Kensington Leather Sofa,  the Arhaus Wessex Leather Sofa, Pottery Barn’s Leather Chesterfield and other tufted leather sofas. Our version of this sofa, the Kingsbridge is handcrafted in a state of the art manufacturing facility in Taylorsville, North Carolina. It is manufactured by Jonathan Wesley Furniture. The owner of our factory Tim Shook and his uncle, Norm Shook founded a company in the early 70’s called Taylor King Furniture, considered to be one of the premier upholstery manufacturers in the industry. They later sold Taylor King to Hancock and Moore. After the sale Tim continued on as the plant Manger for Taylor King , eventually leaving and reopening as Jonathan Wesley Furniture. Coincidentally Tim’s brother replaced Tim as the plant manger for Taylor King. Several of Tim’s upholsterers joined him at Jonathan Wesley. As you can see from this little bit of history, our factory owner has been making high quality upholstered furniture for 43 years.

I received an email last week which said… I am in the process of shopping for furniture. I have always liked loose cushions, but I am seeing LOTS of pieces now with attached cushions and the salespeople say that these tend to wear better because of how they are constructed. I am mostly concerned with wear-ability and comfort. Any thoughts?

To distinguish the different kinds of cushions, when we are talking seat cushions, there are either loose or attached and for the back cushions, there are loose, attached, or semi-attached cushions.

The other day it occurred to me that, although I had been in the furniture business for a long time, I could probably learn more about cushion construction…and it may be true for many of you. I decided to contact Lawrence Sweeny, owner of Larin Cushion Company of  North Carolina.

Lawrence how long have you been in the cushion business?

I’ve been in the business for 40 years. I started in the cushion business at Hickory Spring Manufacturing Company, a company that is a leading supplier of foam, springs, and other furniture related components. After three years, I left the company and formed my own company, catering to a portion of the business I thought was not being served well in the industry… the high-end business and specialty manufacturers. We make a quality product and rarely do we have a cushion failure. I have made several million cushions over the years and we may have had only 4 or 5 returns a year.

We have all admired a beautiful piece of furniture, a sofa, a dining room table, but have you ever wondered how it goes from concept to reality? Surely it must be a complex process.

Think about it. Take a sofa, for example. Not only does it have to look good, it has to sit good for the vast amount of people—with all of their different sizes, heights and shapes—who are considering purchasing it,

A quality sofa is also expected to last along time, decades even. It has to take the abuse of kids, grandchildren, teenagers, cats, dogs and other assorted creatures. I decided to contact our staff designer, D Ross of  Hickory, North Carolina to learn more about how this is accomplished.