NEX and William C. Paige

Today I had an open house at the factory. Spencer from NEXsystems was also a host. And our special mixologist, Paige. Paige is starting a new business producing organic small batch  syrups. Which you can add to quite most everything. Today we had it with champagne.  Mmmm, yummy, champagne!  The syrup was raspberry pomegranate. It was delicious.  It was a beautiful sunny day, and with organic raspberry flavored champagne, was not a bad way to spend the day! We had a very fun mix of designers, at the open house. That is probably my favorite part, just sitting back with friends and talking. Or I guess it is called networking now!
There were some colleagues from ASID that came, some old friends, some new clients, and some  new friends. I had a great time. And tried to keep away from the raspberry syrup!  I gave a quick tour of the factory, which always turns out to be a longer tour. I get started talking and forget about time. We also had a demonstration by Spencer for NEXsystem. Both the cleaning product and the fabric protection. I learned that his product can also be used on tile and stone. Learn something new every day! Speaking of Tile. I met Claudia from the Tile Shop. ( What is the protocol for naming people in your blog? I am not using any last names at least. )  the Tile Shop is located in Berkeley, near a couple of other home furnishings  businesses.  Gee, I wish there was a spot for one more retail space in their area.  I think I will go in and talk more with my new friend Claudia!
Well, it was a long day, and  have not had dinner yet. And tomorrow is Friday, which is the our early day, so I need to get to bed! 4:30  comes awfully early. Oh, and Bart is on strike tomorrow, so you know traffic will be a joy!

New and exciting!

Well, At least I have not gone another entire year without posting! So in that regards I am getting better at keeping a blog. I knew I would have a hard time finding time to keep up with this.  Cypress has had a great year and it just keeps getting better.

Recently we built a sofa for a women's shelter located here in Hayward. We built it for the Emergency Shelter Program. It was a beautiful large sofa in a dark woven fabric. We applied the NexSystem stain treatment to it as well. We received a really thoughtful handwritten thank you from the staff. It really made us feel good. We have been so lucky to have had a busy year, that it was nice to take a little time to do something for our community.

We also participated in the West Valley College Design Club Designer Sample Sale.  It was a very fun day! I ran into a lot of people I know and met some great new designers. We sold some stuff, but brought back more that I was hoping. Still, I thought it was a great event and I hope they do it again next year!

We added a couple of new upholsterers this year as well. One is more seasoned, and the other is our "newbie".  Both guys are really learning fast and will both be a great part of our team.

We have also been working to make some new frames for the showroom. We are going to have an open house next week at the factory. We are planning music and food and drinks. I wanted to have a fun get together. I am having it with Spencer from NexSystem. Actually, it was his idea, I just jumped on board with it, and now have quite a party planned.

We are looking forward to finishing out the year. It is looking like it may be the best year we have had so far! We still have a lot of work to complete, but it is nice to be busy.

Cheers,
jim

Seems like only yesterday...

Seems like it was only yesterday when I lasted posted something on my blog. I cant say that I am surprised that years has passed since my last posting. I have been very busy and business is doing really well.
So to bring you up to speed: The factory is running really smooth right now. We have a great team of craftspeople and woodworkers. Everyone really works well together and are very respectful of each others skills and trades. This has helped us to develop some stronger "looks" in terms of new frame style and development.  With the experience which out team has, it helps to create new frames but also new frames which are comfortable and work with the lifestyles of today.
We have been very fortunate to work with some great local commercial design firms and their clients. They have helped to push us into new areas of design. There has been a great deal of interest in creating work environments which are relaxed and comfortable which foster collaborative work. They tend to want "residential" feel. Which is funny because I find lately a lot of the residential furniture design has been looking like the frames we have been building for commercial use. I have been thinking about finally building myself a sofa for the back sun room at home. The photo below is a sofa we recently completed. This is going to be my inspiration for home.I am leaning towards a custom sized sectional which has different seat depth and arm widths and heights. But, I seem to always have other projects to work on , so my sofa for home is always on the back burner. One of these days I will get a new sofa for home. In the meantime, If you have a sofa at home from Cypress, I hope you are enjoying it!
Jim