---
title: "About CushionGuide: Seven Master Upholsterers, Seven Benches"
url: "https://cushionguide.com/about/"
section: "The Atelier"
author: "Harlan Pruitt, The Elder of High Point"
author_url: "https://cushionguide.com/masters/harlan/"
keywords: "about CushionGuide, custom cushion experts, master upholsterers, made to measure cushions"
---

# About the atelier: seven masters, seven benches

*We are seven upholsterers who read cushions for a living. Each of us keeps a different bench, and this site is where we explain, in plain words, how a cushion that fits gets measured, chosen, made and cared for.*

> **The quick answer:** CushionGuide is an independent atelier of seven American master upholsterers who explain how made-to-measure cushions are measured, chosen, made and cared for. Each master writes from decades at a different bench and from the everyday custom work of one partner workshop, which makes the cushions. We sell nothing; every page explains, with sizes in inches first and centimeters in parentheses.

## Who writes CushionGuide, and why

Every page on this site starts with a question people ask with a tape measure still in hand. How thick should a window seat cushion be? Will velvet crush on a floor sofa? What goes in the order note so a trapezoid comes out right?

Seven of us, each with a lifetime at a different kind of bench, answer those questions in plain words. We also study the made-to-measure cushions our partner workshop sews, from screened porches and breakfast nooks to fifth-floor walk-ups, because a finished cushion teaches more than any catalog.

I'm the oldest of the seven. I swept floors at fourteen in a High Point upholstery shop, and I still close seams by hand. Velvet, corduroy, tufting and floor cushions come to my bench.

The others each keep a bench of their own. [Maggie](https://cushionguide.com/masters/maggie/) reads piping, banquettes and L-shaped seating. [Élodie](https://cushionguide.com/masters/elodie/) reads color and light. [Callum](https://cushionguide.com/masters/callum/) reads anything that lives outdoors. [Hana](https://cushionguide.com/masters/hana/) reads small rooms, daybeds and floor seating. [Rosa](https://cushionguide.com/masters/rosa/) reads porch swings, rockers and family seats. [Nate](https://cushionguide.com/masters/nate/) reads the odd shapes and the numbers behind them.

What question brought you here? Odds are one of us has stood over that same cushion and can tell you what to measure first.

## How a page gets made

1. **Start from a question worth answering**: A question people ask before they order, a shape that trips buyers up, or a finished piece from the partner workshop with its measurements attached. If a page won't help somebody order or care for a cushion, it doesn't get written.
2. **Read it like a tailor**: Proportion, edge, piping line, fabric against the light, foam and thickness. The master who knows that seat best holds the tape and signs the page.
3. **Keep the numbers exact**: Sizes, thicknesses, wash temperatures and angles are written exactly, inches first with centimeters in parentheses, °F before °C. Tolerances are stated, not rounded away: a handmade cushion can move about 1 in (2–3 cm), and the page says so.
4. **Pass it across a second bench**: When a question crosses specialties, a second master reads it. A foam question on a porch swing goes past Nate as well as Rosa.

## What we read, and what we leave out

When we read a photograph of a finished cushion, we read the cushion: its proportion, its edge, the line of the piping and the fabric against the light of the room. When we retell a past project, we keep what was measured, what was chosen, what went wrong and how it was fixed. A 60 in bench stays a 60 in bench.

We leave out everything that points to a person: names, usernames, email addresses, phone numbers, street addresses, towns, order and tracking numbers, and exact prices. A buyer becomes "a buyer in the US" or simply "a buyer."

We also leave out what we can't stand behind. Prices, delivery dates and remakes belong to the workshop and are agreed with it in writing, so no page here promises them.

## How we write about cushions: the rules

- ✓ No invented numbers. Every figure comes from a measured project, the workshop's own specifications or a named source.
- ✓ No certificate we cannot show you. Our certificates page lists only documents with a holder, a number and a date.
- ✓ No promises about foam or fabric that a document cannot back up, and no medical claims.
- ✓ One master signs each page, and the byline tells you who held the tape.
- ✓ When we are not sure, the page says so and tells you what to ask the workshop instead.
- ✓ Inches first, then centimeters; °F first, then °C.

## How dates, updates and corrections work here

Every page shows the day it was first published. When a master changes the substance of a page, such as a new measurement, a corrected fact or a better photograph, the page shows the day it was updated as well. Fixing a typo or a broken link does not move either date.

If you find a number that is wrong, tell us, my friend. A seam is a promise, and so is a number printed under a master's name.

## What the atelier is not

- ✗ Not a shop. Nothing is sold on this site. The cushions we read are made by one partner workshop, and our Where to order page explains how to reach it.
- ✗ Not a review site. We don't rate other makers' products.
- ✗ Not one anonymous voice. Seven masters, seven specialties, seven sign-offs.
- ✗ Not a place for guesses dressed up as facts.

> A number printed under a master's name is a promise, the same as a seam. Every size on this site is written exactly, inches first, with centimeters in parentheses.
>
> — Harlan

> **Tailor's margin:** Photograph the bench with a tape measure lying along the front edge. One picture like that settles length, depth and units at once.

## Questions buyers ask next

### Does CushionGuide sell cushions?

No. CushionGuide is an independent atelier that explains made-to-measure cushions. The pieces in our readings are made by one partner workshop, and the Where to order page explains how buyers order from it.

### Where do the questions on this site come from?

They are the questions people commonly ask before ordering a made-to-measure cushion: how to measure, which fabric, how thick, how to wash. The seven masters answer them from their own years at the bench and from the partner workshop's everyday custom work, with every size written exactly.

### How is the master for each page chosen?

By the product and the specialty first: outdoor cushions go to Callum, odd shapes to Nate, velvet and floor cushions to Harlan, color questions to Élodie. Then the work is balanced so each of the seven carries a fair share.

### What does the updated date on a page mean?

It marks the last time a master changed the substance of the page, such as a measurement, a fact or a photograph. The first-published date stays beside it, and small fixes to spelling or links change neither date.

*Sit well. — Harlan*

---

Written by Harlan Pruitt (https://cushionguide.com/masters/harlan/) for CushionGuide (https://cushionguide.com/about/). The site explains made-to-measure cushions and the partner workshop makes them; measurements are in inches first. This Markdown mirrors the page at https://cushionguide.com/about/