Fabric is the part of a sofa you touch every day and the part most likely to be chosen for the wrong reason. Almost everybody starts with colour. We would ask you to start with three questions instead: are there children under ten in the house, is there a pet, and does direct sun fall where the sofa will sit. Those three answers eliminate most of this library before you look at a single swatch.
Everything below is what we actually stock and actually build in. Where a fabric has a weakness, it is written down, because you will discover it in year two anyway and we would rather you heard it from us.
Three questions. Twenty seconds. An honest answer, including which fabrics to avoid.
Everything we stock, with its weakness written down.
Our default for family sofas. Tight weave, breathes well in a Kathmandu summer, takes a mark and releases it, does not water-spot.
Care: Vacuum weekly. Blot spills, never rub. Washable covers available on every model.
Weak point: none serious. Pure linen, by contrast, creases permanently — we mostly talk people out of it.
Durable, wipes clean, does not water-spot, and takes fire-retardant treatment well. This is the velvet that belongs in a family home or a café.
Care: Brush the nap in one direction. Wipe with a barely damp cloth.
Weak point: shows the direction of the nap, so seat marks are visible until brushed. Not the same material as silk-look velvet, which we do not recommend to anybody.
Pattern woven into the structure rather than printed on top. Wear appears gradually instead of as a sudden shiny patch, and the pattern camouflages ordinary marks. Ages the most gracefully of anything we stock.
Care: Vacuum with a brush head. Professional clean every two to three years.
Weak point: threads can snag on rings and claws. Snip, never pull.
Looped texture that hides light marks and holds colour under strong sun. It is why our Scandinavian and mid-century frames look the way they do.
Care: Vacuum on low suction. Snip loose loops flush; never pull them.
Weak point: cats. A cat will pull the loops into runs within a week and there is no invisible repair. If there is a cat, choose a flat weave.
Soft, heavy, warm to sit on in winter, and forgiving on curved shapes like the camelback and roll-arm.
Care: Vacuum weekly. Keep out of standing damp.
Weak point: holds moisture longer than a flat weave, so it needs airing during the monsoon.
Heavy, honest, hard-wearing, and the easiest fabric to have re-covered later because it is cheap and always available.
Care: Machine-washable covers at 30°C. Air dry in shade.
Weak point: creases, and it is not a soft fabric. Nobody buys it for luxury.
Wipes clean, does not hold kitchen smells, and survives about ten years of ordinary use. Correct for rentals, offices and manual recliners.
Care: Wipe with a damp cloth. Never use spirit or bleach.
Weak point: wears through at headrests, button hollows and front seat edges in five to seven years of heavy use. On a piece you intend to keep fifteen years, buy hide instead.
The only upholstery that looks better in year ten than year one. Correct for Chesterfields, motorised recliners and anything you intend to keep.
Care: Condition twice a year — November and March. We supply the conditioner with every leather piece.
Weak point: cost, and it is cold in a Kathmandu winter morning until you have sat on it a while.
UV-stable and quick-drying, for balconies, terraces and the RP Bagaicha and RP Aakash frames.
Care: Hose down and let dry. Bring cushions in during the heaviest monsoon weeks.
Weak point: firmer hand than an indoor fabric. It is built to survive, not to be soft.
Made in Nepal, used as accent panels and cushions on the Newari Kala and on request elsewhere. Not a full upholstery cloth — it is not built for seat abrasion — but as a back panel or a cushion face it is the most Nepali thing we make.
Care: Dry clean only. Keep out of direct sun.
Weak point: fades in strong sun and cannot take seat wear. We will refuse to put it on a seat cushion.
Density is kilograms per cubic metre. It is the single number that decides whether your seat is still flat in year six, and it is the number most sellers will not put in writing.
| Density | Where it belongs | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 24-density | Back cushions only | Correct for a back cushion, which carries almost no weight. High-density foam in a back just makes a sofa feel like a wall. Wrong — always — in a seat. |
| 32-density | Standard seat comfort layer | The comfort layer on every RP family sofa, sitting over a firmer support layer. Soft enough on day one, stable for eight to ten years of normal household use. |
| 40-density | Support layer, and full-depth where it matters | Under the 32 on ordinary sofas, and right through the seat on anything over 210 cm, on all sofa-cum-beds, on recliners and on every commercial piece. It is the difference between a seat that dips and one that does not. |
| Memory foam top | Optional, on request | A 25 mm memory layer over the standard build. Lovely for a reading chair, less good for a sofa people get up from twenty times an evening — it is slow to recover. We will fit it, and we will tell you this first. |
Our standard family build is 32-density seat over a 40-density support layer. Anything over 210 cm, all sofa-cum-beds, all recliners and every commercial piece get 40-density right through. The long version is here.
Our standard frame timber
Dense, strong, holds a screw and a tenon, locally available in the sections a frame needs. Seasoned in our racks for at least a year before it is cut. Right for almost every sofa frame built in Nepal.
Pro: strength, availability, price. Con: must be seasoned properly or it twists — and you cannot see that in a finished sofa.
Show-wood, carving and exposed frames
More stable than sal, naturally oily, extremely durable, considerably more expensive. Wonderful where the wood is visible.
Pro: stability, beauty, longevity. Con: largely wasted inside a covered frame — be suspicious of a full teak premium on a frame you cannot inspect.
Seat decks, chaise decks, back panels
Does not split, spreads load across a surface rather than a line, has no grain direction to fail along. Genuinely the correct material in these three positions and we use it there.
Pro: dimensional stability, load spreading. Con: only as good as its grade — commercial ply in a chaise deck will delaminate.
Not used in any RP frame
Almost no screw-holding strength, swells irreversibly when wet, and a Kathmandu monsoon is enough to finish it.
Pro: cheap. Con: it has no business carrying a person's weight. If a seller says 'engineered wood', ask which one and ask to see it.