Hospitality Jargon Explained

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8

8-Way Hand Tied Springs

Construction that allows the springs to help distribute weight and evenly maintain a perpendicular position essential for proper support. As part of this leading industry standard, coil springs are tied to the frame by hand in eight different places to produce a firm, uniform seat.

A

Apron

The horizontal support below a tabletop or the seat rail of a chair, often carved or otherwise ornamented.

Apron Height

A measurement from the floor to the horizontal bottom support of a table or chair. The apron height is important to consider if you are hoping to pair tables and chairs from separate collections, as the chair's seat should fit well under the table's apron.

Aris

Sharp edge or corner

Art Deco

A streamlined, geometric style of architecture and home furnishings popular in the 1920s and 1930s. Characterized by rounded or "waterfall" fronts, chrome hardware and glass tops. Originated in 1925, at the Paris Exhibition of Decorative and Industrial Arts.

Arts and Crafts

A British furniture style emphasizing traditional, handmade wood crafting. Simple lines, minimal decoration. Featuring wooden joinery and rustic hammered hardware. Widely influential, giving rise to Mission style in the United States.

B

Bail Pull

A decorative hardware piece consisting of an elongated oval handle attached to a back plate on two sides.

Ball and Claw Foot

The carved shape of a bird's or animal's claw grasping a ball. Popularized in the first half of the 18th Century, it is believed to be a symbol of world power, adapted from the Chinese motif of a dragon's claw holding a pearl.

Balloon Back

Circular-backed seat

Banding

A narrow strip of inlaid veneer often used as a border on tabletops and drawer fronts and usually of a contrasting color to the rest of the piece.

Bariatric

Seat for those carrying a heavier load.

Basket-Weave

Criss-Cross woven pattern

Beadboard

Small strips of wood that are connected through a tongue and groove joint to give the panel an antique appearance.

Bentwood

Wood that is steam-softened then bent.

Bergere

An upholstered low arm chair with an exposed wooden frame and a wide cushioned seat.

Bespoke

Tailor made

Beveled Glass

Non-perpendicular surface edges on glass that allow numerous bands of colors to pierce through, creating the effects of a prism.

Beveled Mirror

Bevels, or non-perpendicular surface edges, with lines of connection between planes that add texture, dimension and character to the mirror’s surface.

Bi-Cast

Bi-cast leather is 100% split leather topped with a durable polyurethane film coating that offers a high, glossy sheen along with a regular grain pattern. It is less susceptible to staining due to the polyurethane film coating.

Blend

A blend of two or more fabrics to create unlimited combination of durability, softness and patterns. By combining natural and man-made fibers the result will be a fabric that is longer wearing than one comprised of only natural fibers.

Block Front

A design used on chests and other case pieces in which the front is divided vertically into three panels, with the center recessed between the outer panels.

Bombe

Having outward swells and curves. Used to describe a surface, such as the sides of a case piece.

Bonded Leather

Bonded leather is the particle board of leathers. Scrap leather is ground up, mixed with a binding agent, usually latex or polyurethane, and “bonded” onto a fiber sheet. Those sheets are stamped with a leather grain pattern. The percent of leather vs. binding agent varies.Attractive, durable and easy to clean.

Bonnet Top

A rounded, bonnet-shaped crown on a highboy, secretary, china cabinet, etc.

Brocade

Richly decorative designs made of colored silk fibers. It has an interwoven motif, usually of raised scrollwork, figures or flowers, often with gold or silver embroidered embellishments.

Broken Pediment

An architectural crown treatment on furniture such as china cabinets, highboys and headboards, consisting of a triangular or heart-shaped pediment with an open center and decorative finial.

Bun Foot

A round foot flattened at the top and bottom. It may be wooden or upholstered. Also known as an onion foot.

Burl Veneer

Decorative veneer made from a burl, a knot-like tree growth. When cut, a burl shows an intricately figured grain and is prized for its distinctive look.

Button Tufting

An upholstery technique in which fabric is stitched down through the padding in tufted knots, often in a pattern, and then decorated with covered buttons.

C

Cabriole Leg

A carved, S-curved furniture leg prevalent in the 18th Century

Camelback Sofa

An 18th Century English and American design featuring a serpentine back that sweeps up from the arms to a curve in the center. Is sometimes reversed to curve downward in the center.

Cantilever

L or Z shaped leg

Casegoods Case Pieces

Furniture, including chests, dressers, china cabinets, desks and bookcases, designed to store clothes or other objects.

Casters

Wheels under chair legs

Chamfer

A symmetrical sloping surface at an edge or corner.

Chenille

Fabric made from piles wound around a securely bound core to create a soft and velvety feel.

Cheval Mirror

A full-length, free-standing mirror mounted within a rectangular frame and designed to tilt for optimum viewing angles.

Chippendale

This furniture style features delicately carved ornamentation on cabriole legs and chair backs, as well as on secretaries and other case pieces.

CMHR Foam

CMHR stands for Combustion Modified High Resilience. These foams are mostly used in the furniture industry so as to conform to fire safety standards. Usually, CMHR foams have up to a 65% flexibility rating. Their density can range from around 25 to 60 kg/m3 and finally, hardness can range from around 120 – 200 Newtons.

COL

Customer's own leather

COM

Customer's own material

Console Table

Originally a shelf-like table fixed to a wall and supported by one or two front legs. Today, it generally refers to any table intended to be placed against a wall or behind a sofa.

Contract Furniture

Designed and manufactured for commercial installation.

Cord Management

Organizes tangled, unsightly wires in a discrete manner by keeping each cord in place.

Corner Blocks

Small wood blocks glued, sometimes with a lag bolt, in place strengthening a chair seat. Increase sturdiness and durability. This method of joinery offers the best strength and practicality.

Crib 5/7

Levels of flammability testing for commercial furniture. (United Kingdom)

Crown Molding

Crown molding is a decorative element that is installed where the wall meets the ceiling. Molding typically comes in wood or plaster, but you can find it in other materials such as polyurethane as well. You've probably seen baseboard molding or molding around doors and windows, but crown molding adds something extra to a room.

Crumb Gap

The gap below a backrest

D

Dentil Molding

Molding with a pattern of projecting blocks, used in architecture and in furniture design.

Dovetail Joinery

One of the strongest and most decorative joinery methods. Interlocking dovetails maximize storage space and ensure drawers won’t loosen with use.

Dowels

Used to reinforce joints and provide support to the piece as a whole, dowel pins are inserted into a drilled hole and secured with glue. A good dowel joint employs a fluted dowel, which prevents air pockets from forming in the flue and keeping the wood from splitting.

Down-Blend

Down-blend fillers are some of the most luxurious materials. They create loose, fluffy cushions that retain their plush feel, while easily conforming to the desired shape.

Dressmaker Skirt

A tall, uninterrupted skirt resembling a dress in its craftsmanship, located on the bottom of a sofa or similar piece.

Drop-Edge

Deeper edge to a table top.

Drop-in Coil Springs

Offering high quality and strong support, drop-in coil springs are metal spring units that are made separately by machines and then placed in and attached to the frame.

Dust-Proofed

A dust-proofed drawer makes keeping your items organized and clean an easier task. The horizontal board prevents dust and contents from passing through to another drawer, collecting outside of the drawer itself. It also prevents the contents of one drawer from being visible when another drawer is removed.

E

Edge Profile

Table edge's size, angle, finish.

Empire

A French style of the early 19th Century, characterized by majestic scale and mahogany wood with carved motifs such as swans, chimeras or foliage. Upholstery is overstuffed and features strong shades of red, green, blue, yellow and deep brown.

F

Federal

Often associated with neoclassicism, Federal style is composed of refined rectilinear framing with an emphasis on surface inlay rather than carving. Distinguishing features include square or turned tapered legs that are reeded rather than fluted, spaded and flared bracket feet, and the use of straight, oval or serpentine lines in the formation of inlay patterns.

Filigree

Pierced ornamentation, usually of metal, but also used to refer to wood fretwork and elements of cast iron furniture.

Finger Joint Seat Frame

This ensures exceptional durability and is one of the strongest methods of constructing wooden seat frames. Usually seen in frames with curved or rounded corners, this technique employs interlacing fingers of wood that are glued together.

Fire Backing

Fire resistant coating applied to back of fabric.

Fluting

Shallow vertical channels or grooves, usually with rounded sections, carved on a column, pilaster or any other vertical surface.

FOB

Free On Board - This term is used to indicate when liability and ownership of goods is transferred from a seller to a buyer.

Frame

Basic structure of furniture.

Fretwork

Carved wood ornamentation consisting of short intersecting lines in geometric patterns resembling a lattice. A favored accent of Chippendale style.

G

Gallery

A raised rim or railing around the top of a table or other furniture to prevent small items from falling off the surface.

Gas Lift

Chair height-adjustment mechanism

Grille

A lattice of wood or metal used to protect glass doors on secretaries, bookcases, china cabinets and entertainment armoires.

I

Independent Spring Seating System

Unlike other spring systems, the deck under each seat is designed separately, eliminating disruption or “lean-over” caused by sitting next to another person. This ensures a completely personal level of comfort.

Inlay

A decorative design created by embedding pieces of one material into another, usually forming a flat plane, such as a tabletop.

Inox

Italian for stainless steel.

K

KD

Knocked down - flat packed furniture.

Keyhole Arms

Rectangular arms with a box-style upper section, resembling the shape of a keyhole.

L

Laminate

Laminate Layed sheet material, typically plywood

Lawson Silhouette

A fully padded, generally skirted design characterized by square seat cushions and trim, lowered arms accented with a slight roll. Often associated with transitional styling.

Levelers/Glides

Helps keep furniture sturdy and protected from premature wear when the floor below furniture is not level. These are pegs that screw into the bottom of furniture legs and adjust each corner to a balanced height.

M

Marquetry

A technique in which various types of wood are applied to a surface to produce a picture with a natural theme, such as flowers and birds.

Marshall Unit

Offering superior comfort and resiliency, a Marshall unit is formed when coil springs are secured into individual pockets.

Martindale Rub Test

The Martindale abrasion test is an internationally recognised method of measurement. It measures the durability of a furnishing fabric using a Martindale machine. This uses the controlled abrasion of the surface of the fabric with sandpaper discs. The Martindale test score is the number of times the discs can rub the surface before signs of wear begin to show. The higher the number, the more resistant the fabric.

Matching Splits

An affordable, quality alternative to all-leather furniture, this uses top-grain leather upholstery except on the sides and back, where a high-grade matching vinyl is used – see also LEATHER-VINYL MATCH.

MDF

Medium-Density Fibreboard, a ubiquitous building product. ‘Green’ MDF is weather-resistant

Mission

An American furniture style of the early 20th Century and an offshoot of the Arts and Crafts movement. Furniture is simple and rectilinear in form, usually of oak with exposed wooden joints.

Moderne

A style of design, inspired by the bold geometry of Art Deco design, popular in Europe and the United States between 1920 and 1940.

Mortise and Tenon

Joinery that is a variation of tongue and groove joints and are used in table legs, chairs, chests and drawers to provide added strength.

N

Nap

A fabric with a secondary weave or ‘pile’, sticking out – often appears as a different hue from a different direction

No-Sag Springs

Zigzag-shaped springs that offer comfort and support derived from the springs’ resiliency. Attached to the frame with steel clips or tacks, these springs are then connected by helical springs – see also SINUOUS SPRINGS.

Noeclassicism

A European furniture design characterized by forms from ancient Greek and Roman art and architecture and often using light wood, ebony and gold.

O

Ogee

A molding with an S-shaped profile. The profile will contain a concave arch that gives way to a convex arch, thus giving us that “S” shape.

Ottoman

Upholstered low stool or footrest

P

Parquetry

Similar to marquetry, parquetry is a veneer technique used to create geometric patterns and designs. Most often appears in hardwood floors and ornate chessboards or tabletops.

Parsons

A 20th Century furniture style associated with a small, square occasional table. Also refers to upholstered armless dining chairs and skirtless, rounded sofa rails. Named for the Parsons School of Design in New York.

Patina

A natural color and/or finish produced in wood and leather through age, wear and repeated polishing. The effect can also be created artificially.

Pediment

An arched, heart-shaped or triangular ornamental element usually placed atop a tall case piece. Simulates the gable of a classic Greek or Roman temple.

Pilaster

A long section of a pillar or column set into or against furniture or a wall.

Pillow Top

A separate or semi-attached extra layer of cushioning added to the top of a seat cushion, arm or mattress.

Piping

Jutting out seam in furniture upholstery

Plastic Laminate

Sheet material with a man-made polymer core (aka solid ore laminate)

Plywood

Series of alternating thin layers of wood glued together

Polycarbonate

Tough, transparent, brittler plastic

Polyethylene

Most common plastic, used in water bottles etc and some chairs

Poser table

High table, for use when standing or with stools

Powder coat

Paint coating applied as dry powder

PRESERVE®

As the world’s first bio-based foam, Preserve® is not only an eco-friendly alternative to conventional petroleum-based foam, but is also a more comfortable and supportive alternative due to the layered technology. The core of each Preserve® cushion is made up of 1.8-density supportive soy-based foam. That layer is sandwiched between two layers of super soft caps for better resiliency, then wrapped in a thin layer of fiber to reduce crushing. The result keeps its shape better while leaving a smaller environmental footprint.

Q

Quarter sawn

Timber planks cut from a quartered trunk

Queen Anne

Name given to furniture styles popularized during the reign of England's Queen Anne (1702-1714), including the cabriole leg with spoon foot, shell carvings and splat-back chairs.

R

Rattan

A strong vine-like palm native to Asia used to make caning and wicker.

Reeding

A series of semicircular, ornamental grooves, either flush with or raised above the surface they decorate, which run the length of the surface. Commonly seen on chair and table legs and poster beds during the later 18th Century. The reverse of fluting.

Regency

A 19th Century style of furniture known for its combination of small-scaled, well-proportioned curves and straight lines. Named for the regency of George IV, Prince of Wales.

Repeat Pattern

A pattern recurrent throughout a fabric design

Rope Molding

Convex molding designed with a series of indentations to resemble a length of rope.

S

Saber Leg

A concave curved leg that resembles a cavalry sword.

Saddle Stitch

Distinctive ‘dashed’ sewing stitch, used particularly with leather

Scatterback Silhouette

This boxed-cushion, bench-style design is named for its loose or unattached, large-scale matching or coordinating back pillows. May be skirted or unskirted.

Semainier

From the French word semaine, meaning week, a tall, narrow chest with seven drawers, one for each day of the week.

Serpentine

Furniture or trim treatment formed by alternating convex and concave curves.

Shaker

A 19th Century design form developed by the American religious group of the same name and based on the belief that "beauty rests on utility." Furniture has clean, simple lines with no ornamentation.

Shell

Combined seat and back of chair as one feature

Sheraton

Named for Thomas Sheraton, this style favors light, rectilinear forms with flat inlay and painted accents, as well as geometric veneer patterns. The sheaf-back chair is a popular example.

Shield-Back Chair

An American and British design with an open-framed back shaped like a shield.

Show Wood

Wood used as a design feature on an otherwise upholstered chair

Side Guides

Wheeled tracks along the sides of drawers that guide the drawer along the inner wall that allow for smooth, directed drawer movement and alignment.

Sinuous Springs

Zigzag-shaped springs that offer comfort and support derived from the springs’ resiliency. Attached to the frame with steel clips or tacks, these springs are then connected by helical springs – see also NO-SAG SPRINGS.

Solid Core Laminate

Sheet material with a man-made polymer core (aka plastic laminate)

Spider

Top of a table base, an X piece, connecting table bases to the underside of table tops

Spindle

A thin piece of wood, typically turned, stretching between a seat and top rail of a chair

Splat

Central vertical element of a chair’s back

Splat-Back Chair

By being smoothly finished on the interior, a drawer is able to prevent splinters and snags.

Spoon Foot

The foot on a turned leg that resembles an 18th Century spoon.

Stretcher

One or more crossbars connecting the legs of a piece of furniture, in order to strengthen and stabilize the construction.

Studding Rod

A threaded metal rod connecting the top and bottom of a table base, running down the middle of the column.

Swatch

A sample of upholstery fabric

T

Tongue and Groove

Joinery that is common in flat surfaces that allows pieces to fit together so that the seam is not visible.

Torchiere

The French name for "candle stand," a stand originally used to hold a candle or lamp. Today it refers to a lamp with a tall central column supported by a small platform, or four legs, that directs light upward.

Transitional

Defined by understated, restrained approach to line and material and refined shapes of the modern era with established references to the past, this style is versatile in that it can easily adapt to different décors.

Tuxedo Silhouette

Reinvented by contemporary styling, a tuxedo silhouette features high, straight or flared arms that match or nearly match the height of the back. Arms are designed at, or close to, the same height as the sofa or chair back.

V

Veneer

Thin slices of wood cut through the cross or vertical section of a log, then glued together at right angles over a thick central core to create a pattern.

Visco Elastic Foam

A non-allergenic spring-free cushion material that absorbs movement, gives you better circulation and has great air flow.

W

Waterfall Front

Ergonomic seating wrap-over front of chair seat

Webbing

Consists of individual fabric strips interlacing together in upholstered furniture to create a more comfortable, giving seat and a longer cushion life.