par David Castro
Humans are the heart of the EQ3 brand. From designer’s sketch to upholsterer's stitch, each collection is a mosaic of the hands that brought it to life, leaving an indelible mark on the memories you create with them. EQ3 was born out of 150 years of furniture manufacturing, and we're backed by expertise that comes out of manufacturing furniture for many iconic brands. So when it comes to our furniture design process, no one knows better than Edgar Oquendo, our Research and Development Manager who has been with the company for over 10 years. Recently, we spoke to him at EQ3's Canadian flagship store at CF Polo Park mall in our hometown of Winnipeg. We were eager to find out more about what goes into creating the beautiful and lasting designs from EQ3.
Edgar explained that the EQ3 design process is both thoughtful and meticulous. Before any materials are ordered or any sketches are made, he uses a three-part checklist to ensure quality and craftsmanship:
He went on to say that "they have to all be in there. But which one do you want to prioritize first? For Joan, for example, I would say our top priority was keeping the cost low. The second was the design. As far as the Cello, we make everything beautiful, we make everything comfortable."
Price, for Cello, was the third priority, and so the price point is higher than the Joan collection.
EQ3: "Why don't we look at the Joan?"
Edgar: "The design of the Joan for me, with it being very low price point [compared to other collections], we had to really nail down the design. It has to look nice. And we wanted to do something different. So we came up with this idea, for the tufting: it doesn't have the buttons [that our other tufted sofas have]. Usually you have the lines. You can attach something in the back so you can create the pull. There’s so many variations of tufting out there, so how do you make it different?"
EQ3: "So does this only work because we have the plywood in the back [behind the Joan cushions]?"
Edgar: "We have the plywood in the back because we wanted to keep it the same design wise."
EQ3: "So did we do the plywood so that we could -- my assumption that we could have a lower density back?"
Edgar: "No, it's more for comfort. So because the back is so low that when you, when you sit on it, the foam just [falls over]."
EQ3: "We wanted the low back to keep with the profile aesthetic?"
Edgar: "The profile, the design. Yeah."
Edgar pointed to our Cello collection as an example of prioritizing comfort.
Edgar: "So here we have memory foam, and then feather. You can see the cushion shape on top. It's not just a block of foam. We actually bevel the edges around the core to create that nice organic shape. A lot of lower end companies don't create those bevels, so they force the fabric to crush the corners to create that softness.
When I first started with EQ3, a lot of the foam that we had were just square cut. No shapes in them, and then basically your cover is forcing the shape. It doesn't make sense because then it's so tight and also it's not comfortable because there's so much stress and you're basically sitting on a trampoline. So we actually started shaping our foam. It's a lot of work, but the result is that it looks so nice. It doesn’t look like it’s forced. It's a very organic shape to it.
Plus we created a cavity in the frame. And then you're adding this soft layer of foam and fiber on top to create this softness, but stiff enough [to sit on]. So we are creating the concave on the frame. So you have your wood pane, we have this hardedge trim flex, we call it. And then we fill it with foam. You have your foam and then your fiber on top. And so when it bends in, [it’s] filled with fiber on top to create that crowning.
It's soft, but the edges are supportive enough to keep the shape together. Because if you just want it to be soft I can just put a chunk of foam [in the sofa seat]. And then when you upholster it, what happens is all the edges will just collapse in time. So we created this cavity to put the softness in there. And then at the edge you keep structure so that all of these [cushions] are nicely keeping the shape."
Edgar: "This last year, there's been a push for cost reduction. And we really struggled with it because we know we don't want the quality to suffer.
So we did it on the [Cello] frame. So you can see some of the crowning on the frame. There's a lot of CNC [computer numerical control wood router] parts. There's a lot of waste. So let's say your sheet of plywood, there's a lot of curves on the frame to create this crown organic shape. So we decided to just make everything out of like stock wood, which is already precut straight.
So we did that on the frame first to see how much savings we would get with that. So by maximizing your wood, less waste, we're able to save substantial savings when it comes to the frame. But then there's a challenge where now we need to keep that organic shape. So we found that wood was more expensive now. But we find that foam is a little bit cheaper [than years past], so we actually put the shape on the foam instead of the frame. And it still looks the same.
It's really soft, non-woven material that you put on top and that softness becomes a little bit more dense. It's really hard to get rid of that so we're experimenting with different fibers. So [in the end] we went with a little bit more dense fiber and removed the membrane.
The result is, you get the same look, the same feel, but on certain material it may not be as comparable. I'm being honest. That’s what we have to do to keep things competitive without sacrificing the look, the quality.”
Edgar also explained that the EQ3 design process is both thoughtful and meticulous. We're building quality products, but we were curious how Edgar ensures that this continues to be the case:
Edgar: "To me personally, when I make my furniture, I make it as if it's for myself. I want to make something that I can be proud of."
EQ3: "Can you go back to the ownership of the product design? How, when you've got someone that's designing a piece, it's important for them to make sure that they own it all the way through [the product design process].”
Edgar: “So basically we have, including myself, four of us builders in R&D. But when I first started it was just by myself, so I know every piece. I know them like I know my children. And that's how, when there's issues in production, I look at the piece, I know exactly what's going on with it.
So as the company grows and we have more people come [on], I was still the one looking after the pieces, even though after I've handed it off, I'm the one going for troubleshooting or when there's quality issues or signing off on floor models or pilot runs.
But what I want for all the builders is for them to own the style right from when [our Chief Design Officer] Enri starts from drawing all the way to when we discontinue the style. So if there's any change request from production or if there's any quality issue or the frame breaks, I want you to tackle how you're going to solve the issue or how will you improve the style. Or if [we] want to do a cost reduction down the road, I want that same person to be working with it because I want them to own the style."
EQ3: "They have all of the knowledge of: you can't reduce the cost in this component because of X, Y, Z [reason]. This whole thing is going to break because you can go [put a change in] here, but not here."
Edgar: "And there's certain things like why did I put the notch here instead of down here? There's a reasoning why we do every little thing."
According to Edgar, there are three components to consider when creating each upholstery collection and considering the materiality of each:
EQ3: "In terms of skeleton, the frame of Replay I find very interesting. Like the back structure: you would assume that the length is very structured because of the distance that this frame has to go. But when you come down to it and you lean into it, you can see that this has a give. I was not assuming to be met with comfort. I was assuming to be met with structure because this is a very visually structured collection."
Edgar: "Well the Replay is actually the remake of the original Replay. And it was just so uncomfortable, especially with this typology. There's not really a pillow in front of it can give you that comfort. So when me and Enri were debating what we would do, we really didn't want to have a cushion in front of it."
EQ3: "But to me, the back is a pillow."
Edgar: "Yeah. So we got to the point where we're like, okay, we love the design. It's beautiful now, but again you have your cost, your design, and then your comfort. How do we take this to another level and make it comfortable? So we basically removed a chunk of the frame and created a suspension. So that when you sit on it, it moves this way."
EQ3: "There’s flex."
Edgar: "And the other thing too is because it’s such a tall leg, it's such a skinny frame. So when we were testing this, the frame did not really break, but what happened was it was flexing so much so when we put our weight on it, so the frame would bend. But it gave you that sensation that this is not a quality piece because it's bowing so much. So we actually have a metal plate… a laser cut plate. Oma actually has both. It has a tube and it also has a plate on the front of it."
EQ3: "Why one foam over another?"
Edgar: "Again, price point, right?"
EQ3: "[For] our opening price point sofa, we're still using 1.8 pound foam—”
Edgar: “We're using two pound where most competitors use 1.8. So [for our competitors seating experience] it's a fake seat. So then you have this seat but half of it is springs."
Edgar: "So the last two years, I pushed to have different what we call 'markers'. So basically it's what you used to cut your fabric. That's what the CNC [upholstery fabric automated cutting machine] will cut. And we have so many different variations on our material. Some of them are very stretchy, etc. So when we pattern, we make sure mathematically our patterns make sense.
When you have fabric that will stretch a quarter inch, a half inch then, and some of them actually stretch over an inch and a half, so we created different patterns for different fabrics. They're mainly the same overall. It's just that we take [that] into account."
Edgar: "We actually had to source a new machine [for Joan]. It's a Barracuda machine for on your jeans: it just adds that extra stitch for extra strength anywhere that could rip out. There's a machine that you put it in and then you program the shapes. Same thing on your [ballcap], it's the same machine. So that's one of the things that we try to do differently. We figure out how do we do this, and look for the machine.
EQ3: "As a comparison between [competitors] and ourselves, the way [the competitors] do seams is different than the way we do seams?
Edgar: "So we have a half inch seam. Basically your needle will sew half inch into your fabric. So when you're not consistent with your sewing, the seam line it also affects [other aspects of the piece]. [Competitors] are not consistent.
There is also one thing that we just recently started doing called surging. Basically what it does, it keeps the [weave of the] fabric from fraying apart. We don't do it on all fabric and some do not need it. And you don't need to have them in everywhere, [especially where there is already double stitching]."
Edgar: "We're doing six and a half to seven per inch and more, closer to the edges. It gives you more of a streamlined look. And also it reduces [inconsistency] when it comes to sewing. So the longer your lines are, the harder it is to keep straight. I know for other companies they like the thicker thread."
So [for us], it doesn't make sense to have it like really tiny stitches. And also for fabric, it controls some of the wrinkles because it's much tighter. I think it just looks so much nicer when it just blends in but it’s there."
EQ3: "It's a highlight detail."
Edgar: "Sometimes for other companies, the stitching just pops out. And also we do single top stitch where you see this extra stitching, that's called single. When you see on the opposite side, another stitch, it's called double. We do single top stitching also [because when you use double top stitch it’s possible that] the end result, it looks crooked. So a lot of times the single top is more of a technical stitch because we want it to look much more cleaner and this adds a lot of labor."
EQ3: "There's so many of these pieces that are like, that's really expensive to do it that way. But that's how you get the product looking so nice. We're not sacrificing the product because of the expense. It's about building the best product."
Edgar: "We recently did that [different patterns for different grades] on leathers now as well. Because we had done some tests on how different leathers stretches and they range from 0.5% stretch to some of them 4%.
So I can't imagine not even having a percentage. There are so many variations of -- it could be cutting, it could be sewing, it could be the leather itself -- but I can't even imagine not having it. So we decided to have 1% shrink based on the original pattern that mathematically would make sense."
Leather skiving, also called shaving or splitting, is the process where leather is run through a machine that reduces thickness.
Edgar: "You can see how this leather is pretty thick, especially when you have double top [stiches] there's actually one to three layers of leather in here. But what we started doing, we started skiving our material.
So if you have your leather, we have this machine that we take a little bit of the layer out. So that when you stitch them together, you can see a little bit of the leather sticking out."
EQ3: "We're basically tapering the edge?"
Edgar: "We're tapering the edge."
EQ3: "So that's how we get such smooth, straight, flat seam?"
Edgar: "Not everybody does it. Also, there's different leathers, different thickness, so we assign different heights to the machine. So we want to have the end result the same for everything. The thickness of leather could be one millimeter to two and a half millimeter, but we want it to look the same. It may feel stiffer or softer or whatever."
You see the seams here [on the back center seam of the Replay] where you have like four of them meeting together, but you can't really see it. We have some [models] where you might be able to find six layers [like the corner of the Eve]."
EQ3: "You also want it to be proportionate, right? Like there's four hides going on [in this floor model]? And maybe there’s [pieces] that have three hides in the back?"
Edgar: "It depends on what makes sense to the style. Like Cello has way more because we're trying to align with an arm. You can connect it to the arm, you can connect it on the armless side - so we want to make sure that the seams make sense when you connect them together."
Edgar: "We also do a lot of testing on our sofas. We have our testing machine. Basically you can put weight on it [for] simulating 10 years of wear, so even after the testing it was holding up and also as it ages it creates distinct lines in it."
EQ3: "So you end up with almost a predictable patina over time. And that's part of the design choice is thinking about how the product's going live through its full life cycle. So it's not just thinking what it looks like today, but you have to be designing with use in mind. So what is it going to look like in 2, 3, 4, 5 years?"
Edgar: "Yeah, exactly."
