Jim Zivic – Material Information

Coal:

We get shipments of 2,000-pound COAL boulders delivered direct from the mine, have them rough cut by an Albany, NY stonecutting firm with a six-foot diameter diamond-embedded saw, then use power tools to shape the table sized blocks into functional sculptures. (Small chunks get transformed into tabletop sculptures and bookends.)

The polished surfaces of our coal pieces are virtually dust-free and 99 percent clean to the touch. Every piece displays the veining and fissures characteristic of coal. Some pieces are embellished with pools of molten pewter or tin.

Unlike many of the endangered woods that are trendy in contemporary interiors, we prize coal because it is one of the most mundane and non-precious materials on earth – and every piece that becomes furniture is saved from being burned for fuel.

Leather:

We buck the ease and trend of using upholstery leather, and prefer the character, hand and aesthetic appeal of NORTH AMERICAN BRIDLE LEATHER. Vegetable tanned and tumbled in oils and tallow that imbue it with a natural waterproofing, this leather is made to stand up to the elements and last for generations.

We appreciate the uniqueness in each natural hide we use in crafting our furniture – be it marks from tussling with barbed wire fences, or color variations from its preparation and dyeing in US factories. During both furniture production and use by the end consumer this material may be nicked and scratched. While we take every precaution to present a final product just like those you’ll see in our showrooms and on our website, there are going to be differences in each custom made leather furniture item. Please note that our leather furniture is designed for indoor use.

Leather Link:

Designed in the 1860’s as industrial transmission belting, LEATHER LINK is an infinitely durable material which we have usurped completely. Hand stacked and riveted in the U.S, we use it for seat slings for our Bar Stools and Indoor Hammocks because it moves, squeaks, and molds to your body. It functions nicely as indoor entry matting and as functional tabletop objects like trivets and tablet stands. Once you pick up this fully adjustable material you won’t be able to put it down.

Wool Felt:

Our 100% WOOL FELT is milled in Germany. A biodegradable and renewable material, wool felt is moisture resistant, self-extinguishing, and extremely durable! Wool felt is one of the oldest man-made textiles. To produce felt, raw wool undergoes a wet felting process that involves matting, condensing and pressing the fibers. This process has very little environmental impact compared to other textiles.

Felt Link

New FELT LINK! Riffing on our signature leather link, we’re recycling our scrap material from our 100% wool felt flooring to make this unique, flexible, soft yet strong felt material. We’re using it for floor mats, runners, area rugs, and many other applications, limited only by your imagination.

Steel:

There’s nothing more American than STEEL. We use three types – cold rolled, hot rolled and stainless. All of our steel is welded and finished by hand at our Jefferson, NY Studio. We finish with only a light lacquer to preserve the natural rawness of the material.

While our hand finishing methods do prevent rust, we can not guarantee that cold-rolled metal furniture pieces will not show rust over time in some areas outside of a climate-controlled environment. To this end, we recommend special ordering our designs in stainless steel for optimum performance in high-humidity or outdoor environments.

Suede:

Our LEATHER SUEDE is incredibly soft and supple, easily one of the most luxurious materials on earth. Suede is easy to clean with a suede brush and is super durable. We use it for our Hammock pillows. We also use it to make flooring with a layer of sponge rubber underneath for a truly sensual experience on bare feet.

Shearling:

Our SHEARLING is lambskin, making it a smaller piece of material to work with, requiring several separate skins in the making of each furniture piece. Naturally occurring bald spots may occur on these skins. We make every effort to use the most pristine parts of the shearling, however some variation in color and/or fur density is unavoidable. In general, small areas with less fur density are assigned to areas that are less visible – for example, the seat of a chair vs. the back.

We use shearling in the pillow for our Hammocks. Our Chairs can be ordered with shearling on the seats and backs.