The level of design, craftsmanship, quality, and natural and organic elements incorporated into a sectional made for Scott and Lisa May is befitting of its placement in River Sol, itself a portrait of quality construction at the highest environmental standards.
The sectional was made by Ecobalanza, a furniture maker located just south of downtown Seattle. Its furniture is custom made with organic materials that include merino wool, organic cotton, organic latex, jute, linen, and kapok; leather that is bio husbandry certified, vegetable tanned and has plant-based and semi-aniline dyes; sustainably grown and harvested, knot-free solid beech wood; zero-VOC stains and wood glues that are free of volatile organic compounds; and RDS certified down from a longtime European company that ensures the following of the five principles of animal welfare, which include no live plucking and well-cared-for animals.
“I’m always searching for ethical producers of raw materials,” said Ecobalanza’s founder and owner, Aimee Robinson.
Ecobalanza customers include people with chemical sensitivities or allergies whose health depends on toxin-free furniture, parents seeking furnishings that are safe and non-toxic for children, and eco-minded people like the Mays who want to do the right thing for the planet. Ecobalanza also made the headboard for the master bedroom in River Sol.
“We’re not like a factory; we’re like a design-build studio,” Robinson said.
Robinson shops the world for the best and purest materials she can find: Forest Stewardship Council-certified beech from Germany, and organic materials that include latex from Sri Lanka, wool from Germany, cotton from Texas that’s carded in Oregon, and linen from a factory in France that she says has operated since 1885. Robinson researches her supplies carefully before buying to ensure they’re produced humanely, sustainably, and cleanly. Her shop works only with natural materials.
She’s passionate about her work — and it shows in her encyclopedic description of materials, sourcing, design, fit, function, and attention to detail.
She beams with pride at the ingredients that go into Ecobalanza’s furniture — touching, smelling, and appreciating their natural composition with an energy and enthusiasm someone might display with fine art or wine. She works with clients to design furniture that’s not only safe for their bodies, but designed for their height, weight, and sitting style, with cushions made to preferred softness and firmness, and more. She swaps cushions in and out on showroom furniture to demonstrate different feels and styles.
When the style and fit are decided, the shop’s 10 people get to work. They don’t mass produce, they custom craft. They hand-stitch fabric, vertical wood pieces are “dominoed,” essentially using a type of heavy-duty dowel to join parts that make the furniture extra strong, Robinson said. Another description for connecting the wood parts is mortise and tenon.
“This thing is elephant grade,” Robinson said while pointing to the frame of the Mays’ sectional partway through its construction.
Each bottom spring in the frame was positioned over wood slats to prevent couch sagging, with organic cotton stuffed between the springs and slats to prevent squeaking. All the springs are held in place by jute string tied in eight places to each spring, producing a geometry of precision to match its function. The compartment holding the springs is then covered by taut jute, over which organic cotton and merino wool, a natural fire retardant, then envelopes the frame. The wool meets the Global Organic Textile Standard, or GOTS.
Robinson literally has a hand in every piece, but she considers herself more “orchestra director” now.
She loves to learn about materials, their origins, and their makeup.
“I’m always exploring,” she said. “What’s the latest in science and what’s the scientific paper on this, that, and the other. … What’s the environmental impact, what’s the politics?”
Robinson has learned a lot since launching her business in 2007.
“I’m always on research mode,” she said. “I call it diving. I’m always looking for materials. If I see something, I’m like, OK, get down and dirty. Let’s look at scientific papers. Who’s saying what, where, when, what is this about?”
It’s all part of Ecobalanza making the best furniture it can for people and the planet.