A new British upholstery house, built on old skills
How our furniture is made
At Planted, the inside of a piece matters as much as the fabric you see.
Our furniture grew out of the work we do at Cheltenham Upholstery, where years of restoring, repairing and rebuilding furniture have shown us exactly what lasts, what fails and what should never be compromised. When you have taken furniture apart and seen how it was made, you understand the difference between something built for a few years and something built properly.
Planted is our way of putting that knowledge into new furniture. We make each sofa, armchair, headboard and footstool with traditional upholstery skills, natural materials and accountable hands. Made to be sat on, stretched out on, lived with, recovered and kept.
Built on what we know lasts
Before we made new furniture, we spent years working with old furniture. Through Cheltenham Upholstery, we have taken pieces apart, rebuilt them, recovered them and seen the difference between furniture made for a few years and furniture made for generations.
That knowledge sits at the centre of Planted. We do not make this way because it is fashionable. We make this way because we know what happens inside a piece over time.
The frame, the springs, the fillings, the fabric and the person making it all matter.
Frames made in the Cotswolds
Every Planted piece begins with a handmade FSC-certified solid beech frame, crafted locally by specialist frame makers we trust implicitly.
Their workshop is something of an industry secret — the place many established furniture brands turn to when developing new designs. Because when it comes to upholstery, the shape, structure and proportions must be right from the very beginning, and these are the makers who get it right.
A good frame gives a piece its strength, shape and long-term life. It is the foundation for everything that follows.
Integral legs, made for the piece
Our legs are built as an integral part of the frame rather than attached afterwards. It’s a more involved, time-intensive approach, and not how most modern furniture is made.
For us, it matters because the legs become part of the structure of the piece. It gives greater strength, stability and integrity, helping the furniture stand up to long-term use.
It also means the leg design is specific to that shape, so the base, frame and proportion feel properly resolved together. It is one of the details most people will never see, but it makes a real difference to the quality of the finished piece.
Layered by hand
Once the frame is made, each piece is built by a single pair of hands, layer by layer.
The feel of a Planted piece comes from the way these layers work together: the strength of the frame, the movement of the springs, the resilience of the fillings and the softness of the final fabric.
Each material is chosen for what it brings to the structure, support, breathability and long life of the furniture.
Materials used during making
Frames
Every piece begins with a traditionally made FSC beech frame, giving the furniture its strength, shape and long-term structure.
Webbing
We use webbing made from either jute or 100% cotton, creating a strong natural foundation for the upholstery layers.
Hand-tied springs
Traditional hand-tied springs are used to create comfort with movement, support and resilience.
Hessian
Hessian is used as a natural barrier between the springs and the layers of filling that follow. It helps protect the materials above while forming part of the traditional construction of the piece.
Rubberised Coir
Rubberised coir is a key alternative to polyurethane foam, made by bonding natural fibres with pure latex into a supportive, breathable layer. Its composition is 40% natural latex, 30% animal hair and 30% coco fibres. This helps regulate temperature, humidity and airflow.
Cotton and wool felt padding
We use cotton and wool felt padding to build softness, shape and comfort. Once known simply as cotton felt, this material gains its fire-retardant properties from its wool content rather than from added chemical treatments.
Wool-felt interliner
The piece is then wrapped in a wool-felt interliner before the final fabric is applied. This inherently flame-retardant layer sits over the paddings and gives the finished piece a more luxurious, softened and substantial feel.
Face fabric
Finally, the chosen natural top fabric is applied by hand. By this point, the comfort, shape and integrity of the piece have already been built beneath the surface.
Free from chemical-based FR treatments
Planted furniture is made without chemical-based flame-retardant treatments, polyurethane foams or oil-derived filling materials.
Instead, comfort is built through natural upholstery layers: wool, cotton, jute, hessian, natural latex and rubberised hair. These materials take more time and greater skill to work with, but they allow us to make furniture that is more honest from the inside out.
No polyurethane foam.
No oil-derived filling materials.
No chemical-based FR treatments.
No industrial shortcuts.
Made by accountable hands
Every Planted piece is made in our Cheltenham workshop by skilled upholsterers who understand the work from the inside out.
Our upholsterers do not simply complete one anonymous stage of production. They follow the piece through, working carefully across the build, and sign their name to it when it is finished.
That signature is a quiet form of accountability. It says the piece has been made properly, by someone who knows what is beneath the fabric.
Made to be recovered and kept
Traditional upholstery is not only about how a piece is made at the beginning. It is about what happens years later.
A properly made sofa, armchair, headboard or footstool can be repaired, refreshed and recovered as homes change. That is why we build with strong frames, natural layers and methods that allow the furniture to have a longer life.
This is not fast furniture. It is furniture made to be lived with, looked after and kept.
Visit the Workshop
If you would like to understand the difference between fillings, fabrics and construction methods, you are welcome to visit the workshop.
We can show you the materials we use, talk through the layers inside a piece and help you understand how different choices affect comfort, shape and longevity.
Planted is traditional craftsmanship and natural materials, beautifully layered by hand.