Increasingly important to the KWD design offering, we love designing custom furniture to emphasize the bespoke nature of the interiors we create. Being able to rely on the craftsmanship of a local artisan has made a significant difference to the breadth of furniture pieces we design. Jai’s ability to see our vision, his adaptability and creativity and his attention to detail ensure we deliver the best possible outcome every time for our clients.
Jai Maliki was destined to make his mark on the world of upholstery. With a father who started a reupholstery business in the early 1980s, and a mother an expert seamstress, Jai’s world was always entwined with the art of artisan furniture. “Our whole family worked in the business and we all fell in love with it. I think I first picked up a staple gun when I was eight years old and I haven’t let go of it since.”
After working for his father for more than 10 years, Jai went out on his own as a freelance upholsterer so he could investigate what was happening in the industry and what the market was looking for. “Dad was happy for me to go out on my own, I was always too ambitious. He wanted to pursue the area he was focused on which was hospital furniture whereas my passion was all about custom designs.” Jai started working on his custom furniture for friends and once he began featuring his work on his Instagram page, the enquiries kick started his business. “I researched the leading interior designers and reached out to the ones I thought I could work with. The work flowed in, and now four years later I have moved into large premises in Seaford and have grown to a team of four artisans.
Jai Jai Upholstery specialises in custom made furniture and reupholstery services, tailored to you, focused on quality, sustainability and supporting time honoured skills. Jai’s approach is that each piece is unique and handcrafted with quality and care, creatively working on the finer details one stitch at a time. “I love helping clients achieve their design goals and bringing their vision to life, whether that is reupholstering loved pieces or creating unique custom designs. We offer antique restoration, reupholstery to traditional and modern pieces and timber repolishing advice and services.”
Over the years Jai has worked with an ever increasing number of talented interior designers and creative clients in the residential market, retail sector and hospitality industry. “Around 80% of the custom furniture we create or restore is from interior designers, but anyone can pop into our premises and talk to us about their reupholstery needs. Our upholsters take pride in their workmanship ensuring each piece is met with the highest standards, restoring and recreating the design and bringing furniture back to life. Working with the traditional & modern upholstery foundations, we use coil sprung seats, jute webbing, cotton fibres, waddings, flocks, high density foam, dacron, and hessian elements.
“I love the satisfaction of seeing a design evolve from a concept to creating a custom piece,” explains Jai. “It’s the creativity behind the process that is exciting. Every single element is made by hand using age-old techniques, and that is so rewarding. Our services and craftmanship are of course targeted to a particular clientele – who appreciate the unique and bespoke nature of the artisan furniture we create with love, care and attention to detail.”
“We’re only just getting started and are so passionate about growing and working with more and more designers to create beautiful custom furniture. We have been approached by multiple retailers to create custom collections and we are expanding our client base every day, manufacturing and upholstering beds, banquette seating, sofas, ottomans and armchairs, and even upholstered doors. I’m not sure how far it will go but I know it’s exciting where it will lead. One day, when we have expanded and I have the time and capacity, we might even create our own collection.”
Jai started working with Kate and the KWD team a few years ago, and the relationship has grown from strength to strength with Jai creating custom designs for KWD projects. “When we were asked to work with KWD on the My Happy Space Movement project, I was so happy to contribute. If you are in a position to help, why wouldn’t you?”