Cypress Furniture

Someone watched over us!

2010-10-24T15:23:00.000-07:00

I have been very reflective lately. It may have something to do with the time of year and the change of seasons. The fall is when my mom got sick and passed away from cancer. It will be two years this coming January. But it was Fall, when she started to really get get sick and the holidays took on new meaning for me. Since her passing I have tried hard to make holidays be more that just the presents, but a true family celebration. My family is located in Washington state and I am in California, so every time I go up to visit, I want to make sure we all spend time together as a family. Life can get so tangled with deadlines and paperwork that I need to stop and take time to make an effort for all of us to be together and listen to each other and celebrate our successes and differences. (I wont go into how weird my younger brothers are!) But I do love them and the fantastic, interesting, and fascinating families they have created for themselves. I am very guilty of getting caught up in the day to day operations of Cypress and forgetting about calling home to check on everyone. We are very excited to soon be welcoming twins to the family. I cant wait to see them and meet them when I go to Seattle for Christmas. But as all of this approaches, I need to stop and reflect on how fortunate I am and Cypress furniture is. We are survivors of an economical crisis that my generation has never imagined or lived through. I think this is the new business climate. Everyone seems to waiting for it to go back to how it was, I think this is how it is going to be. I think people are actually going to make purchases when they really need it, and when they can afford it . But my point is, we are thankful for somebody up there looking out over us! Thanks Mom! We needed you to keep an eye on us and we appreciate it. Thanks for taking care of us this last year.

Integrity and quality

2010-08-30T17:37:00.000-07:00

I recently had a meeting with a designer whom we have built quite a bit of furniture for, over the years. She was having a difficult time on a project and wanted to discuss options on pricing with me. She is working on a large project, and the "decorating" committee consists of several women involved with the project. The problem is that the committee has placed their priority on price. They are not at all interested in the differences between my furniture and furniture they have gone online and found.
Of course they have found furniture that is made for about 1/4 the price of mine. Now we all know that in order for furniture to be that cheap, it has to be of a much lower quality. Here is where we get into sticky territory. How does the designer educate her clients without insulting them. They are not experienced in purchasing quality furniture for commercial use. They are looking at the cheapest price. How do you tell them that they will be replacing broken furniture and will eventually end up paying more per item in the long run, that purchasing quality built furniture the first time. The designer wanted to know if I would build a cheaper version of the type of furniture we currently build. My answer was an emphatic "NO". I feel like it is almost a bait and switch scheme. People buy my furniture because it is expertly constructed and very reasonable. (OK, I know that not everyone can afford my furniture, but if you are willing to save and wait till you can afford it, then you are spending your money the on quality furniture. It has a great value and is the better choice.)
I feel or rather I hope that this whole economic turbulence is teaching or reminding us on what it means to save up and buy the best quality we can afford. It is the art of spending wisely and not frivolously. That is true value!
The other point about shopping online, is the effect it has on the Mom and Pop furniture stores. They are rapidly becoming a dying breed. How can you buy furniture online? You don't know how it feels, sits actually looks. And the most important part is how it is made. There is nothing like picking up a piece of furniture and feeling its weight, feeling if it is solid. Are we just too lazy to drive to a store? Have we really missed the lessons of making quality, valued buying decisions? And why are we so slow in learning the lessons, again! I was raised to take care of my things and to value them. We need to be smart consumers and buy quality, made in USA products!

The Power of the internet

2010-08-02T18:32:00.000-07:00

Lately, I have been reading a lot about social media and how you can use it in business. I have been very reluctant to embrace this trend in business. To me, furniture is a consumer good which needs to be touched and felt, sat in and sat on. So, using the Internet to sell a product like furniture just didn't make sense to me. Until the other, when I received a phone call from a consumer who has one of our old "Umphred's" collection of sofa's. Guess how she found Cypress....the Internet. She searched Umphreds and found my blog, describing how Cypress was now the old Umphreds. This is even more of a lesson to learn, because we love to reupholster our old furniture, because it proves our point, that we build furniture which is made to last and built to be reupholstered. So the prospect of losing an opportunity to reupholster one of our old frames because someone could not find us, is a clear message to embrace the Internet and furniture! But, don't get the wrong idea...I don't think I will be building a sofa with a built-in lap top in the arm!
Thanks again!
Jim

Hello, again, my friends!

2010-06-20T16:30:00.000-07:00

So much for getting better at increasing my blog frequency rate! Ok, so I have been busy lately. Yes, busy! Can you believe that the furniture industry is actually finally beginning to pick up! We have been bust building furniture for some of our commercial accounts. I always feel a little weird about giving out clients names, so I will just call them commercial accounts. Who cares what I call them, I am just happy they have been placing orders!
The residential designers order's have only recently begun to pick up. It has been really tough out there for interior designers. I don't think the design industry has done much to help consumer understand the value of a good designer. A well qualified designer can help a consumer save money by picking the right quality pieces for their lifestyle. A designer can sift through the multitudes of product offerings and find what is the best quality and value for your budget, lifestyle and needs.
Work with a designer and buy local!

Long time no blog

2010-04-02T12:42:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,
Sorry for the blog downtime...got overwhelmed with work and needed sleep more than blogging. Well it has been a long year in the furniture mfg biz, but it seems like slowly but surely things a heading upward. Got some great projects we are working on. I will try to snap a couple of pics to give you some idea of what's new in the world of custom high-end upholstery.
Be well and be good to each other!
Jim

Update

2009-05-18T20:07:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,
Sorry for the delay in getting a new post out. (I was afraid of this! That I wouldn't be able to keep up with new blog posts! Maybe that is why people like Twitter, although I don't seem to get it. I don't know if I really have any interest in what strangers are doing at all time of the day.)
So, what is new at the factory??!! Well, lately we have been working on new product development. I am working on developing some new frames with more casual tailoring. Not as loose as "Shabby Chic". Something just slightly more casual, which would suit how more of us live. As soon as I get some photos I will post some for all to see.
Thanks for following Cypress!
Jim

Open House

2009-04-26T19:17:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,
Well I think I have finally recovered from our First Annual Open House at Cypress Furniture.
I have spent some time thinking about the Open House and the wonderful responses which I received. Here’s what I learned from the Open House:
1. It can not be called the “Annual” Open House. Everyone said it was very informational and how great it was to network with other designers from the area. And so it seems, everyone wants to have another event a lot sooner than next year. The designers who were present were from all areas and expertise of interior design. They covered a pretty broad range of talent. However, what I do think they all had in common was a very high level of professionalism, and that everyone enjoyed the opportunity to network with other designers of the same caliber and level of experience.
2. I need to work on adding more of my product to my website. I have been hesitant to do this, although now, I can’t seem to remember what my reasoning was! I guess originally, I was so concerned about the “presentation” that I forgot about the ‘product”. I was worried that the pictures were not professional looking and therefore did not look present the right image. The designers were much more impressed with the broad range of products and styles which I have added to our line. Many designers said they wanted to be able to go to the website, get an image from it and then email that to their clients. Or, they wanted to be able to direct their client to our website and have them review the styles and collections. (Benefit from this: Paperless catalog)
3. I have some ideas for the topics for our next Open House, but I would also like to hear some ideas from designers. So, I would like to encourage you to contact me and let me know what you would be interested in expanding upon.
Bye for Now

2009-04-22T20:20:00.000-07:00

Hello! We had an outstanding day at the factory today! Today was our first Open House with Educational Seminars along with a special showing of fabrics made from recycled materials (plastic water bottles). We had just an amazing group of design professional. I think what I personally enjoyed most about the day was the sense of community. There were designers from all around the Bay Area, and doing all types of design work. But it was an opportunity to all be together and share in our common passion of interior design. I think one of the most important things the design community needs to do, is to band together and build strong relationships. As everyone knows, it is a difficult time to be working in an industry related to homes and home sales, but we can all support each other, and at the same time, work towards elevating the awareness of a good designer to help their client avoid making costly mistakes with their design budget

Work in Progress

2009-04-14T19:09:00.000-07:00

I thought it might be a nice change to have this blog post be about one of the projects we are currently working on.

I have attached a photo of this amazing sectional we are working on. A designer in the East Bay designed this sectional. In the photo, you can see that it has just come out of the frame shop, and is now heading to our spring-up department. The spring up department is where we interweave the jute webbing, and then attach the coils to the webbing and then hand tie all the coils to each other as well as to the frame. This is for a large family which will make heavy use of this sectional. So, we are using heavier gauge coils to ensure maximum life for the seating foundation. The more information the designer provides us, the better we can meet expectations. In this case, the designer told us about how much heavy use these items will get, so we used the heavier coils and added extra supports to the frame.

The sectional consists of 5 pieces. There are two quarter round armless sectionals. When they are put together to form a half circle, the distance across is 12’-0”. So you can imagine the size of home this is going to fit into. Then there is a center ottoman which is a 60” diameter round. This fits into the center of the half circle. And the last two pieces are quarter round benches. They complete the other half of the circle, but they are benches with no backs. The benches can be pulled apart to allow access to the sectional. So, all together it forms a huge circle. I think it is an amazing design. It reminds me of those old “pit” sectional. They were kind of a u-shape sectional with a large ottoman which fit into the center portion of the sectional. But this version is so much more creative and modern. It will have a tight back, with multiple toss pillows. The seat cushions a bench style cushion. We will add D-rings and clips to hold the cushions in place.

Once this sectional begins getting upholstered, I will take some more photos to show you the work in progress. I hope you like it! Thanks.
Jim

Quality is the new GREEN

2009-04-05T19:11:00.000-07:00

I am often asked about the “green” aspects of my upholstered furniture which I manufacture. This seems to be the current buzz running through the design community. Usually it is the latest trends or colors, but right now is the environmental “friendliness” of furniture. Well, following is my answer (in the short form!).

My new slogan: Quality is the new Green.

Suppose you purchased a product, which you used every day, and lasted for 40 plus years, and only needed a few replacement parts along the way; wouldn’t you consider that to be an amazing product? Now, let’s imagine that product was a sofa. Sofas only really perform a limited number of tasks. A sofa is placed in a space in order to offer options for one to sit or lounge or sleep upon. An added bonus, sometimes but not always, is that a sofa can make a room look pretty. So, how did we take this product and add a built-in planned obsolescence to it, if it only performs one task to begin with, and a replacement performs the same task? Well the home furnishings industry did it by turning a functional piece into a fashionable piece. The industry didn’t think about rain forests or oil rigs, or land fills. They wanted to create an industry based on obsolescence through design. The design community created the need for newer updated color and fashion trends. We had to have the newest version sofa upholstered in the newest colors and the newest patterns. Well, not everyone could afford to buy a new sofa every time a new color trend was launched. So, rather than be satisfied with a sofa in last years colors, the furniture industry began building cheaper furniture. And I mean cheap in both the cost and the construction. You can’t have one without the other. And thus was born: throw away furniture. I don’t think the design industry set out to do this, but I do believe it has become a detriment to the industry. Designers are always complaining about their clients constant questioning of the price of everything. Well, of course they would when they see advertising for sofas for $299, and a designer is trying to sell them a $4000 sofa. Is the client buying the newest and latest fashion sofa, or are they buying a piece of furniture which they will sit, lay or lounge upon? Ultimately, whatever the price of the furniture, whatever the fabric covering, whatever the color, the sofa will perform the same task: to offer seating options. The question then becomes, how well will the sofa perform this task, how long will the sofa perform this task. Given enough time of performance, are replacement parts available and at what cost?

Now, let’s apply this to the real world! I was recently contacted by someone looking for someone to reupholster her sofa. She asked if Cypress did reupholstering. I told her we did, and explained to her how we would check the frame for structural integrity and check the coils, inspect the foam, etc. She then asked me if I was familiar with a manufacturer named: Umphred’s. What a wonderful coincidence! (Cypress Furniture started out as Umphred’s Furniture! We still build our furniture with the same quality standards! Same frame construction and the same hand tied coil foundation and the same all solid hardwood construction.) This wonderful customer had purchased her Umphred’s sofa in 1963 for $459.00 at a furniture store in Oakland. 46 years! She had reupholstered it once already and had the cushions replaced at that time. So that sofa preformed the task of providing seating options for 46 years. Or, the frame cost her roughly $10 per year. Do you really think a sofa which you could by today for $299 is going to last 46 years? Do you even think it will last 2 years? Let’s take a well built sofa, and extend it out to 46 years at a cost of $4000. This equals about $87 per year. Compare that to a $299 sofa over 2 years: $149 per year. So it looks like the better value is the sofa which is better built! So, we are using our resources in a better way, in order to use less resources (which is what “green” is all about.), and coming up with a better valued product which performs the same task.

Okay, I can hear you all saying that you don’t want to keep your sofa for 46 years. Which is exactly why you buy a well built piece of quality furniture: you get it reupholstered. You can change the color, the type of fabric and the pattern. With a well made piece of furniture, you can even make changes to the frame. You can change the shape of the arm, add a skirt, or remove the skirt and have an exposed leg, you can raise the seating height, etc. But, what you haven’t done is throw away your old sofa and use more of our precious resources to build a new sofa. That is why you buy quality furniture!

All Natural Cleaning Products and Healthy Food

2009-03-31T20:57:00.000-07:00

I had a very interesting conversation this past weekend. I was at some friends and was talking to a small group of their neighbors. They were all talking about how we all need to “do our part” to help protect the environment. They all came from different perspectives; health concerns for their children, environment concerns over limited resources, landfills overflowing, etc. They talked about using natural cleaning products, range free chicken, and planting trees.
Somehow the conversation came around to home design. The friends who I was visiting said they wanted a new sofa for their family room. I joked and said they had better not get one from anywhere else but my company (Note: Yes, we only sell to the trade, but since I am the owner, friends do get special consideration!) Well, they said they would love to, but my sofas are too expensive. Now, I am aware that my furniture is expensive and not for everyone. So we started talking about furniture and prices. What surprised me the most, was that all these people thought cheap furniture was a great way to decorate. They could use it and then when they were tired of it, just get rid of it and get something new.
I was shocked at their thinking. I told them my furniture as well as my business philosophy was totally contrary to what they were saying. How could they be so concerned about health food, eco-friendly cleaning products, old growth rain forest depletion, and yet purchase “throw-away” furniture? I was a great opportunity for me to tell people about quality furniture and the benefits to the environment, their health concerns, and to their own lifestyle and quality of life. I hope it was educational and maybe one of them will think about furniture the same way they think about buying natural cleaning products!!

Promotion and Marketing

2009-03-26T19:42:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Wow, it was a long but VERY productive day today. I went to a fabric showroom at the SFDC (San Francisco Design Center) along with my Designer Sales Representative. I am working with a fabric showroom to put my furniture collection into their showroom. I am looking to expand my presence within the SF Design trade market. So, a fabric showroom is a great partnership. I would be the only upholstered furniture line in the showroom, which is a huge benefit. Often, when your furniture is in a home furnishings showroom, you are among many other companies. So I would be the one and only in this fabric showroom. (I will share the fabric showrrom name with you once we have all the details finalized. I dont want to get to far ahead of myself.) The showroom has a great selection of fabrics, which are well priced. They have many new collections coming out and are really promoting themselves. In a time when so many showrooms are struggling, and pulling back on promotions, it is good to be partnered with a showroom with a direction and plan for the future. The only drawback is that they are a "Fabric Showroom", so that means the staff is there to sell fabric, and not neccessarily there to promote my furniture. But, as I have a great outside sale rep, who specializes in designer sales, it helps her to build up her territory and contact list. Also, I do have a furniture collection at a Furniture Showroom right upstairs from this fabric showroom ( the J. Scott Waterman Showroom. www.jscottwaterman.com), so they can also assist the fabric showroom with sales. It is a (hopefully) win-win situation for everybody! Tomorrow, I have an appointment with a design firm out in the Danville area. I am looking forward to discussing business and furniture with them! Bye for now!

Jim

Welcome to Cypress Furniture

2009-03-22T15:43:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Cypress Furniture Blog

Let me first start by introducing myself. My name is Jim Berrens and I am the owner of a furniture manufacturing company, Cypress Furniture. Cypress Furniture is located in the San Francisco Bay area, in the city of Hayward, California. I have owned Cypress for a couple of years now. Cypress started out as Umphred’s Furniture, an old upholstered furniture manufacturer. There are many San Francisco, Seattle and Phoenix designers who remember Umphred’s fondly. We have a rich history of building beautiful, outstanding quality furniture. Cypress Furniture still builds its furniture much in the same way as Umphred’s did.

I hope to use this blog to explain, educate and express what beautiful, well built, quality furniture is all about. I would like to explain the differences in furniture construction; to educate why we build our furniture in the same traditional construction techniques as the our founding company; educate the consumer in the value of well constructed furniture; and express the pride which our family of employees feels in building a beautiful piece of furniture. I am sure along the way I will also share our difficulties and struggles with operating a manufacturing facility. We are full of pride and hope but also are aware of the challenges we face in being a manufacturer of a very high end product in a market saturated with cheap, poorly made furniture which, when covered in a beautiful fabric, looks a lot like ours.

Cypress furniture build upholstered furniture: Sofas, chairs, loveseats, ottomans, hassocks, upholstered beds, benches, anything upholstered (although eventually I would like to expand Cypress into a full line manufacturer with a casegoods collection. Casegoods is the home furnishings category of furniture which includes end tables, coffee tables, dining tables, etc.). Primarily our furniture is for residential use; however, we also work a handful of commercial designers and specifiers, and build some commercial upholstery for them. Our furniture is available to the trade, which means we sell our furniture to interior designers and decorators, as well as through furniture showrooms located in design centers, as well as a couple of retail home furnishings stores. We do not sell directly to the public, we are not set up as a retail operation, and do not have the support staff to do this. By selling only through the design trade we are able to keep our overhead down and are also able to offer better service to our customers. It would surely increase sales if we sold directly to the public, but our business model is to keep our relationships with those who work with us personal. We pride ourselves on our quality and when you get too big, that becomes too difficult to maintain. We know all of the designers who order through us; we know what they want, we know that at anytime in their design process they can contact us, or we them if we have questions regarding their order. This personal touch is what has helped us survive and thrive as a custom upholstery manufacturer. There are many manufacturer of upholstery, but we feel that through building relationships first with our customers, we are then able to build the perfect product for their clients. Most of our local designers, often bring their clients to the factory to show them who we are, what and how we build our product and then we work with them to build a personal, custom piece of furniture to suit their needs, their lifestyle, their home. This is after all, the basis for good design: creating a living space to meet the needs, lifestyle and desire of the homeowner. Good design needs to meet these criteria within the budgetary concerns and perceived value of the homeowner. By bringing their clients to the factory, designers can show them exactly what they are buying and what fine furniture should be, as well as what they can expect from well constructed furniture. It also provided designers an opportunity to help educate their clients the difference between throw away furniture and furniture which is an investment. I believe we need to be aware of our use of resources and use them to our best ability, to build furniture which will last. That is why Cypress Furniture builds only the finest quality upholstery frames. There are many ways to build cheaper furniture, but it is just that: cheap furniture. I will take more time in upcoming blog entries to talk about furniture construction. I just wanted to use this initial entry to give you a little background about us and why we do, what we do. I hope that you will find this blog to be educational, informative, and sometimes even a little funny. I hope you will also post questions and comments to us. I appreciate and value your input. Please pass the post along to friends and family who love furniture as much as I do, to designer friends and to anyone about to make a furniture investment.
Thank you and I look forward to keeping you informed and entertained!
Sincerely,
Jim Berrens

Cypress Furniture
http://www.cypressfurnitureinc.com/