Most of a sofa is hidden. The parts that decide how it sits after years of use are under the leather: the frame, the springs and the foam. This article walks through how a Sitdesign sofa is built, layer by layer, which details you can set when you order, and the steps from your first question to the finished piece leaving the factory.
Every piece is handmade in our own factory in Büyükçekmece, Istanbul. Sitdesign has been making furniture since 1983, and all production takes place in this factory. The catalogue has standard models in standard sizes, and custom dimensions are available on request.
The frame: kiln-dried beech
The frame of every upholstered Sitdesign piece is made of kiln-dried beech. Kiln drying lowers the moisture content of the timber in a controlled way before it is cut. Properly dried wood moves much less afterwards, and that matters: a frame that shrinks or twists loosens its own joints, and loose joints are what make a sofa creak. Beech is a dense, close-grained hardwood that holds dowels, screws and staples well, so the upholstery can be pulled tight and stays tight.
You will not see the frame once the sofa is finished, but you can feel it. A simple test that applies to any sofa: lift one end a few centimetres. A rigid frame rises as one piece, without the far end flexing or the arm moving against the seat.
The seat: springs under HR foam
Our seats are built with sprung seating under high-resilience (HR) foam. The springs carry the load and give the seat its movement; the foam above them shapes the cushion and spreads your weight. HR foam has an open, irregular cell structure, so it recovers quickly after you stand up and resists the gradual flattening that low-density foams tend to show.
How a seat feels depends on the foam, the spring layer and the seat depth together. When you compare models, a few general guidelines help:
- Firmer seat: suits upright sitting and conversation, and anyone who finds it hard to get up from a low, soft sofa.
- Softer seat: suits lounging and watching films, but you sink further, so the seat feels deeper than its measured depth.
- Seat depth: typically 55–60 cm for upright sitting; 65 cm or more if you like to sit with your legs tucked up.
The cover: genuine leather or fabric
Sitdesign upholsters only in genuine leather. The range covers 76 leather colours in 12 colour families, and Italian leathers form our top leather group. Leathers differ in finish as much as in colour: a pigmented, protected leather resists stains and fading well, while a more natural, aniline-type leather feels softer and changes visibly with use. Our leather materials page explains the groups in more detail.
Fabric upholstery is also possible, and we accept customer's own material (COM). This is useful when a fabric has already been chosen for curtains or other pieces in the room. One practical point: the fabric should be made for upholstery; a light curtain fabric will usually wear through quickly on a seat cushion.
What you can set on request
- Dimensions: custom width, depth or height on request, for example when a sofa has to fit between two walls, under a window or opposite a fixed TV unit.
- Leather colour: any of the 76 colours in 12 families. Samples are sent on request, so you can judge them in the daylight and lamplight of your own room.
- Fabric or COM: instead of leather, when the room or the project calls for it.
When changing dimensions, a common rule is to adjust length freely but depth and height with care, because the proportions between seat, back and arm give a model its character. A Julia sofa made 30 cm longer still looks like a Julia; one made 15 cm deeper and lower may not. Measure the room before you ask: allow around 45 cm between the sofa and the coffee table, and keep main walkways at roughly 90 cm.
How ordering works
- Choose a model. Start from our sofa collection or go straight to the leather sofas, such as the Platon sofa or the Julia.
- Send your measurements and tell us whether the standard size works or you need custom dimensions.
- Request leather samples, or describe the fabric or COM you plan to use.
- Receive a quote based on the model, the size and the cover.
- Confirm the order. Production then starts in our factory.
Lead time
Upholstered pieces take 3–4 weeks to produce after the order is confirmed. If you are also ordering wood pieces, such as a coffee table or a sideboard, these take 6–8 weeks, so plan the room around the longer item. For a closer look at the hidden layers described above, read The Anatomy of a Sofa.
If you have a model in mind and the measurements of your room, contact us for leather samples and a quote.
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