Truck Tarps – and Other High-end Upholstery
Furniture makers are taking the recycling trend to a whole new level. Just say you heard it here first: Truck tarps and old Army tents. That’s what we’re finding on high-end upholstery these days.
Let’s start with Thomas Bina, the designer I wrote about yesterday with a new collection for Four Hands. Most of his work is done in wood and metal, but he has a few upholstered pieces with fabric from Brazilian truck tarps.
“After it’s been on the back of a truck for 40 years, it’s pretty much waterproof,” Bina said. They boil, treat, and dye those tarps into a soft, almost suede-like finish, but it’s all cotton. And, Bina adds, “these patches are all authentic, original patches. We didn’t do a thing to them.”
Here’s a close-up of the hastily-sewn patches, which look oddly artistic.
While we’re in Brazil, let’s visit a company called Será O Benedito, or SOB for short. The environmentally-oriented fashion company that makes items such as shoes and handbags also has a small line of small furnishings, including this “Puff Mike,” which is also made from what must be ubiquitous truck tarps down there.
Um, well, this might be great for a bachelor pad, maybe? Put it this way – spilled beer stains might even enhance the look.
Moving back to the United States, I couldn’t help but think there might be some giant conspiracy going on when I saw a chair at Central Station Interiors that was upholstered with old Army tents. The company buys surplus military camping tarps – with all their labels, patches and pockets – and has them sewn by hand into upholstery for the Cargo Chair.
And over at Cisco Brothers, a company that has been green from the very beginning, its new lines include Army-tent upholstery, too. They also have pillows embroidered with old Army patches. Drab green never looked so good, for sure.
“We’re using every scrap of the tent,” said Rosie Pinedo, who does the fabric and product buying for her brother Cisco Pindeo’s company. They used scraps of tents on pillows, including the grommets, stitching, and lettering.
“Part of our society is being so negative on the war. It was our way of supporting the troops,” she said. “Cisco saw these tents at the Rosebowl. Some of these are from the early 1900s and were never used. Some are even from the late 1800s.” She added that the sofas, chairs, and pillows covered in the canvas tents will be sold as one of a kind. “The details are part of the beauty and a little of history.”
I knew this all sort of felt like déjà vu, because when we were in High Point in April, we saw the first evidence of this new trend. Vanguard Furniture debuted its Bloomsbury collection of furniture, which included the Campden Settee, upholstered with patched and stamped – let me guess! – truck tarps.
Vanguard Marketing Director Diane Hubbard notes that the tarp is available on “almost any” upholstery item – “so sustainable!” she wrote in an e-mail.
As an end note, for your viewing pleasure, I’ll include this picture of a mannequin dressed up to look like a goddess in the Tritter Feefer showroom at High Point. Her toga? Recycled drop cloths.
