Meet Stuart Corby: Upholstery Supervisor
Following our article where we introduced the technicians and artisans who transform furniture at our award-winning Renew Centre, it’s time to take a deeper dive into those experts, and discover what they do on a day-to-day basis at Crown Workspace.
Stuart is the Renew Centre’s upholstery and sewing expert, in charge of the reconditioning and reupholstery of chairs.
“I’ve been involved with furniture since way back in 1976,” he said. “I actually wanted to be a blacksmith or farrier when I was a kid but there wasn’t a lot of work around in that profession. So, when someone suggested furniture I jumped at it – and I’ve been involved ever since.
“The best bit about the job at Crown Workspace is the people I work with and the feeling that you are doing something meaningful.
“One of our clients is an NHS Trust in London, for instance, and we’ve done a lot of work refurbishing furniture for them. It’s great to think that you have saved the NHS a lot of money and that in the process you have helped make their carbon footprint smaller, too.
“A lot of that furniture could have been thrown away but now it has been reconditioned or reupholstered.
One example is a hospital which had six Boss leather settees which were in a bad way and were going to be disposed of.
“We refurbished them in a more durable material and were able to save them. It gives you a sense that you are making a difference,” said Stuart.
It’s not only about saving furniture, though. Stuart has also been involved in designing new furniture.
“We sometimes make items from scratch and that’s always exciting,” he said. “The guys will come up with ideas and I’ll help build a prototype and upholster it.
“We had one order from a big television company that wanted a specific piece of furniture designed and they liked it so much they ordered more. There’s plenty going on here!”
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