From shredded chairs to treasured settees, Melanie Kaas brings dead couches back to life and saves family memories
It’s a different kind of resurrection, but reupholstering a piece of furniture like a couch does give a lounge’s centrepiece a semblance of eternal life. This is what upholstering specialist Melanie Kaas has been doing for the past two decades.
Kaas said that she absolutely loves what she does. There’s no boredom attached to it but rather, she said, emotion. That is because furniture becomes part of a family’s narrative. It’s got memories tied in; it’s been there for someone’s first kiss, baby’s first steps or millions of snuggles with loved ones, pets and plushies.
“There’s sentimental value in refurbishment,” she said. “Sometimes it’s because a father passed away and it was his favourite chair. Sometimes there’s just an attachment to the piece.”
‘When it comes in, it is dead’
But furniture can take a beating.
“When it comes in, it’s dead,” she said. “When we’re done, it’s exquisite. We bring it back to life.”
Kaas said when a piece is in her workshop, a bit of its history is often plain to see.
The process is not glamourous, but the end product is what gives her goosebumps. Mostly, furniture comes into her emergency room a bit bruised.
“Everything is gross,” she said. “You find things on couches that you don’t want to find.”
Over the years, her workshop has uncovered teaspoons, remote controls, keys, loose coins and the occasional condom buried inside people’s furniture.
Cats and dogs, she added, are her best customers, with chewed corners and shredded cushions making animal-loving households’ regular visitors for some TLC.
Her workshop is in Kempton Park, close to where her previous career incarnation also landed her. Before having children, she worked as cabin crew for a decade; first Nationwide Airlines and after that, 1Time.
“But I knew my future was not about serving coffee and tea on board flights forever,” she said.
‘The cliche of being barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen…’
Kaas grew up in small-town Dundee in KwaZulu Natal in what she describes as a small farm town childhood. Her youth, she said, was defined by scraped knees, lemon trees and a grandmother who ran her household with old-school discipline. Money was thin, expectations were narrow and there was little room for drifting through life.
“We were not financially well-off,” she said. “My gran was very strict. There was no time to relax. I just wanted to get out of there and make something better of myself. I did not want to become the cliché of being barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen.”
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She said that her clients are her family, particularly because furniture is such a personal thing.
“Mothers, brothers, children. I’ve known them forever and a day.”
She’s still hands-on in every aspect of her business and employs seven artisans that also help her create custom furniture, shopfitting and all sorts. Her enterprise has done some work for big convenience-food brands, hotels and the like.
When she’s not working, Kaas spends time with her family and one day, she said, she hopes one of her two daughters will take the reins. She’s also a yoga and exercise believer, especially because, she said, lifting couches and breaking a sweat at work is a younger person’s game.
“It demands a measure of strength and physical resilience, and one of my biggest fears is that I become physically redundant in a job that demands a lot.” But so far, so very good.
Probably one of the best parts of her job, she added, is being able to create beautiful objects or give others a second chance. It also means that staying abreast of colour trends and consumer affinity is important.
Like fashion, it’s an ever-changing cycle. “Last year people wanted olive and deep greens,” she said. This year, she said, mustard, yellow and orange are coming back.
Modular couches are increasingly popular because modern flats are smaller and furniture now must be broken into pieces just to get inside.
“Trends may change, but the memories that pieces of furniture accumulate remain a constant,” Kaas said.
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