With so much disruption happening in just about every industry in today’s market, it’s no surprise that the interior design space is getting a major transformation. New York City-based startup Stitchroom is one such platform that wants to update and modernize the process of designing and producing custom upholstery pieces. Founder Ella Hall wanted to remove the intimidating and complicated barriers of the traditional custom process by creating an easy-to-use online tool that allows you to entirely customize pillows, cushions, and more. We spent some time with Ella discussing her amazing new platform and the amazing capabilities this new tool can provide to designers and clients when designing their next interior space.
Thank you Ella for sharing Stitchroom with us. What is the current system like now and how is Stitchroom changing the process?
Stitchroom is a custom upholstery company that was started to make getting custom products easier. Our primary offering is a selection of pillows, cushions, ottomans, headboards, floor poufs, banquettes, and other custom upholstery. We have all heard the horror stories of custom jobs for your home going wrong and identified that many of the problems were due to a lack of transparency and communication. Our current system is an easy-to-use platform built with interior designers in mind. The customer uploads their fabric of choice (they can provide their own material, or use our selection), selects products, customize measurements, and submit a quote.
Within 24 hours Stitchroom will send an approved quote with pricing, yardage requirements, and lead time! Upon checkout, our average turnaround time is 2-3 weeks. Recently we’ve been focusing more on commercial spaces and a few interesting banquette seating areas. Stitchroom is different because all orders are managed online. Clients and designers receive notifications when the material arrives and when the project begins production. We also differ from most upholstery companies because we have a dedicated project manager for each project we do. You can choose to communicate via our chat box or via phone.
That is such a great solution and provides a really transparent process that can remove a lot of the anxiety when dealing with deadlines. What are some of your recent collaborations?
We recently completed Dan Jones Cafe designed by Bolt Designs a cute coffee shop on the upper east side and Bluestone lane designed by Tali Roth. Another really sleek project is a Caviar Bar, Huso by Markys Caviar . Outdoor seating has also been huge and we recently completed a hotel in Williamsburg, The Indigo Hotel. For the hotel, we produced throw pillows for each hotel room and cushions for the outdoor lounge. In all projects the upholstery really makes the spaces pop while entirely customizing the experience.
Those sound like amazing custom upholstery project! When it comes to ordering, can a client and designer both order online? Is there specific options or pricing structures for the trade?
The Stitchroom platform was built for the trade and is highly tailored to designers who are ordering custom. We currently have standardized pricing and client and designers can both order. We are working on building out a part of the business with reupholstered vintage furniture that will be more client-focused and developing our trade program further with more perks for designers and different pricing structures.
Amazing. For larger pieces or order sizes, what is the lead time and shipping options?
We ship nationwide and have worked with the client or designer to find the best shipping solutions for their needs. For larger commercial projects (let’s say an entire hotel of throw pillows), the lead times can be around 3-5 weeks.
Perfect. How do you see Stitchroom growing the custom upholstery market, and what opportunities do you see exploring next?
We currently have one workroom in Brooklyn and hope to explore opening another one on the west coast in the future. For now, we are focusing on growing our designer based in NYC and expanding within the commercial and hospitality space. Additionally, we think the vintage furniture market is on the rise and we are exploring accessible reupholstered vintage pieces.
The vintage furniture marketing sounds like a really amazing opportunity for the market. Finally, what are some of the biggest challenges that you see facing the upholstered goods industry and what do you see changing in 2020?
The barrier to entry in the upholstery industry is extremely high. Many people designers and clients alike decide to not even attempt ordering custom upholstery. Sourcing material, finding the right manufacturing vendor, and trusting them to produce high quality with a reliable turnaround time is uncommon But, technology is really helping to change many of the problems from the past like visibility and communication. Hence, the internet can be your friend in finding trustworthy vendors and emerging platforms built to help with organization on the customer and manufacturers side are helping everyone stay on track. 2020 is about individuality and sustainability. Companies that can make custom accessible for a reasonable price point with a relatively fast turnaround time will definitely see an influx of customers.
We completely agree! Thank you again Ella for sharing Stitchroom with us. We look forward to seeing its evolution.
To learn more about Stitchroom and its complete offering, do visit their website.