Trustyle Furniture

By Frank Parker

Truestyle evolved from a lounge furniture manufacturing business which came into existence as W. E. Young & Co. The business was founded by Bill and Beryl Young who came to WA from Victoria starting the manufacturing business in the late 1950’s originally located in Claverton Street east Perth. In the late 1960’s the business relocated to Osborne Park.  The business was then taken over by several of the employees in the mid 1970’s with Colin Bainbridge running operations. The business then shifted to River road Bayswater to a purpose built factory.

Trustyle manufactured styles incorporating show-wood frames with the furniture being in the upper middle class for price and quality always being considered good value for money in the industry.

A client contacted us wishing to have her Trustyle lounge suite and dining chair seats re-upholstered. The Lounge suite was over thirty years old but remained structurally sound. It was originally upholstered in a patterned transfer print which were popular in the late 80’s and early 90’s but she decided to have the furniture re-upholstered in a plain chenille.

This was a straight forward job, we replaced the elastic webbing laminated new high density arm foam and fabricated new premium foam seat and back cushions encasing them with bonded polyester fibre. The upholstery was also relatively simple and back to original including the buttoning.

Our client was happy as her favourite piece of furniture was back to new condition and hopefully she will have many years of enjoyable use.

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    Fred Lowen and Earnest Rodeck met on a refugee ship escaping Nazi Europe bound for Port Melbourne. Fred Lowen started work in 1942 as a fitter and turner but woodturning was his passion. The two commenced their business in 1946 under the acronym FLER starting in an old stable.

    The business grew quickly as they engaged with Myer Emporium supplying modern designs with turned legs and Scandinavian influence. By the mid-late 1960’s Fler had manufacturing operations is several states. The massive demand for this style of furniture in Australia was created by the post-war residential boom in modern housing.

    A couple were referred onto us as they had two Fler SC55 chairs produced in the late 1950’s and two E31 chairs from the 1960’s requiring complete restoration. They originally were purchased new by her parents but unfortunately were very poorly ‘restored’ by a supposedly reputable business in the 1980’s. Given this we had to completely strip the chairs back to the raw timber frames with the intention of restoring them to their original splendour.

    With the frames completely sanded back the timber was stained Mahogany then three coats of clear lacquer. The cushion inserts were originally latex rubber however premium polyurethane foam encased with bonded polyester fibre is more durable and provides superior comfort. We re-upholstered the chairs in a velvet using the original finishing methods resulting in glowing fine lines.

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    A set of two leather look library chairs were presented to us by a gentleman who wanted them rejuvenated. These chairs were purchased new in the 1920’s by his grandfather in England. “Library” chairs also referred to as “William IV” chairs were initially constructed in the 1830’s thus this design of chair had already been in circulation for almost a century.  

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    These chairs were constructed from English Oak and traditionally upholstered in a tapestry fabric. They had then been re-upholstered in the 1970’s using a Nylex vinyl named “Deerhide”. Deerhide was a product of its day and although extremely popular, perhaps these chairs deserved to be covered in something slightly more elegant.

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    These tub chairs were purchased three years ago from a leading WA furniture retailer. The clients paid a high price for these chairs which were sold to them as superior quality Italian made pieces of furniture. The manufacturing labels fixed under the chairs reveal they were made in China.

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