Mar 08, 2012


Photo: Joshua Amlin of Upholstery Bay in Sharbot Lake transforms a 1920s Ontario pine lounge chair with the skills he has honed over 25 years in the upholstery business

Nothings compares to the handiwork of a craftsman who has spent decades practicing his craft and who is passionate about his work. Such is the case when it comes to the work of Joshua Amlin who recently relocated to Sharbot Lake with his family and set up a new upholstery business in his home-based shop located just north of Sharbot Lake on Highway 509. Amlin offers his customers 25 years of hands on experience and a motto that states: “Your Comfort is My Passion”.

“My goal is to turn out work that I would be proud to have in my own home,“ Amlin said. He provides an extensive array of upholstery services and specializes in home furnishings, antique restoration, RV, boat and car interiors, all kinds of draperies, slip covers, pillows carpeting, commercial seating and of course custom designs. He also offers all of the necessary maintenance including steam cleaning, shampooing, scotch guarding for all kinds of fabrics including vinyls and leathers. He also welcomes custom work. Originally from Amherstburg, Ont. Amlin learned the upholstery trade at Western Secondary High School, a vocational school where he studied and practiced the trade for half a day for four years straight. After high school he attended Fanshaw College in London, Ont. where he graduated from a three-year program in interior decorating and furniture upholstery, which led to a number of interesting jobs in the field.

Fresh from college he landed a job with The Bay where he led a team of 12 who designed and created huge fabric Christmas decorations for The Bay's 218 stores across the country. Some of the objects he designed and created included nine and a half foot tall Jack-in-the-Boxes and six-foot teddy bears. “That was really a fun job to work on and an amazing challenge.”

After that he designed and created custom leather interiors for jet air planes and Cessnas at Crown Charter Phoenix Aviation in Brantford, Ont. His longest job stint was the 12 years he spent in St. Thomas, Ont. where he worked for Daimler Chrysler's Sterling Freightliner truck plant as their right hand driver where he also specialized in upholstery repair.

It was after that that Joshua and his family decided to relocate to the country, where his wife Michelle's family hails from.

In his home shop Amlin is pleased to be able to focus on smaller, more intimate projects that bring him satisfaction. When he is not busy with local work he will often be working for various interior designers, some of whom are long time clients. In this case he will often be on the lookout at auction houses for antique and replica pieces of furniture that they are in need of re-upholstering, which Amlin will then refurbish, bringing each unique piece back to its former comfort and glory. Currently in his shop are three chairs, all replicas of older pieces made in the 1950s and all awaiting his transformative touch.

Since moving to Sharbot Lake the Amlins have been very involved in the community. They have volunteered at the community Christmas dinner and at the Heritage Festival, for which Joshua designed and made cozy polar fleece mittens, which were sported by many festival goers.

Anyone who visited the Crow Lake School house at the festival would have seen Amlin re-upholstering an older Ontario pine chair that dated back to the 1920s. He has donated his time to the project and the chair will be raffled off on Canada Day in Sharbot Lake (he still has raffle tickets available for those who missed the event).

Josh Amlin explained the difference between the much simpler trade of recovering furniture and his specialty, upholstery, which he admits is somewhat of a dying craft. “Re-covering means simply re-covering the older material with a new one whereas re-upholstering starts with the frame of the piece and includes redoing the interior webbing, sewing and tying the strings, adding stuffing, shaping the crowning and more - which as it sounds is much more involved and takes a lot more skill.”

So for those wondering about that antique love seat or chair that they are too afraid to sit in, but still love to look at and can't bear to part with, Amlin is your man. He is happy to offer free on line estimates and can be reached at 613-279-2117 or by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Upholstery Bay is located at 17597 Road 509 just north of Sharbot Lake.

 

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