Soft Furnishing Associates was originally formed by Val Armstrong, who for a decade has successfully operated her own soft furnishing business, In House Interiors, from her home in Christchurch.
Conscious of the need to maintain and develop skills in the local soft-furnishing industry, in 2004 Val began providing tuition, classes and mentoring in curtain- and blind-making and business mentoring. Read about her curtain making classes and tuition.
Initially this mainly involved community adult education classes, but since mid-2005 she has taught and mentored a number of people wanting to enter the industry and set up their own small soft furnishing businesses, through one-on-one tuition mostly over 2 to 5 days.
Almost by accident, this led to the development of an informal network of small businesses and individual sewers, maintaining contact with Val and occasionally with each other as they develop business contacts and share ideas and technical knowledge.
Soft Furnishing Associates was set up in 2006 with the goal of building on these relationships in a more formal way that is mutually beneficial to all members, in areas such as support, contacts and technical knowledge, as well as enabling such small businesses to promote their businesses in their local areas through this website.
The network has now developed to the stage where Val has been able to hand over
management of the Association to other members.
In addition, the association enables people seeking a local soft furnishing expert who can offer quality customised products and personal service at competitive rates to search this website to find suppliers and get in touch with them.
Soft Furnishing Associates seeks to foster soft furnishing skills and retain a viable soft furnishing industry in New Zealand, particularly among small businesses.
Small New Zealand soft furnishing businesses may click here to learn about the benefits of becoming a member or listing their business, and the procedures involved.
Contact Soft Furnishing Associates by emailing admin@softfurnishing.co.nz.
