Friends, I have a story for you.
This story actually took quite some time to come to completion, but boy is it a happy ending! It all started with the creation of what the Sprucettes called, “The Red Fan Sofa.” It was a beauty and covered in a captivating Thomas Paul print, the perfect size for this sofa.
A client of ours from NYC, Yuko Shimizu, saw it and knew she had to have it. However, she couldn’t pull the trigger since she wasn’t settled in her new apartment yet. Well, it wasn’t long before an Austinite saw this jewel and scooped it up. Shortly after, Yuko decided that she was ready for the sofa. We had to let her down and tell her it was gone. Amanda told her to have no fear; we would recreate this piece just for her!
So the search began. I spent a little time every week scouring craigslist, eBay, and local antique/junk shops to find the perfect piece. Each one we found before the ONE just wasn’t right. If you know anything about craigslist, you know that things can look wildly different in person than online. We had a few fruitless trips (a sofa that was actually miniature!) but were not discouraged. Here are a few of the hilarious highlights.
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After a LONG search, we decided to take a trip to Round Top to see what we could find. I let Yuko know that we would be shooting her photos all day of potential sofas and told her to let us know if we had found the perfect frame. Towards the end of the day we hit 777 and found a winner! It fit all of Yuko’s criteria: three-seater, carved wood detailing, and a similar shape to the Red Fan Sofa. The girls came home swelled with pride as if they had caught the prize fish. If you had the eyes to see it, this piece had gobs of potential!
Step one: complete. Next, get our hands on the Thomas Paul fabric to recreate the Red Fan Sofa. easier said than done….. To make a long (frustrating) story short, the brand that carries the fabric decided to drag a back-order date out for over 10 months. Luckily, Yuko is the BEST client on the planet and was willing to wait. However, no amount of waiting would help us. The fabric then became discontinued. Argh! So after a few tears, Yuko and I moved on and started searching for another fabric. Here are a few highlights of the fabrics we considered.
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Yuko’s apartment is beyond amazing, so finding something perfect was going to take time. After dozens of emails and great insight from Yuko, we landed on the perfect fabric! She decided to use a Maharam called, Geometri by Verner Panton. The year that the print was designed has great significance for Yuko, so it was a perfect fit!
Now we were in the home stretch! We received the fabric and got to work. After just a few short days, the masterpiece was complete. We sent some final photos to Yuko and were so pleased to hear that she felt it was better than she could have imagined. This little baby was a long time coming, but certainly worth the wait. Take a look at the final piece.
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The icing on the cake was that not only did we love it, others did too! Yuko’s completed apartment was featured in New York Magazine, and the writers even mentioned the “spruced” piece. Take a look at the write-up here!
The story of this sofa was more unusual than most, which makes for great reading! We were so lucky to have such a patient and adventurous client. Hope you like it as much as we do!