Klay Blog
About our cushions
Since launching our website in 2016, we have made and sold thousands of cushions, which now live in homes around the world :) Kirsty began making handmade cushions over 15 years ago for herself and friends.
Kirsty's original inspiration to make cushions came from working in the textile art department on a film set in Japan, where she was introduced to traditional Japanese zabuton cushions.
Since then, she has been developing her own designs, using layers of recycled wool, which are hand-trussed and steam-moulded into various shapes.
Our handmade cushion inners are what makes our cushions special. Beneath the hand-trussed calico layer, each cushion features several layers of 100% recycled (mostly wool) fibre flocking, wadding, and batting. Every cushion is carefully hand-trussed, sculpted, and steam-moulded to achieve its final shape.
We offer five cushion shapes: Disc, Globe, Square, Bolster, and Floor Cushion, each designed with specific uses in mind.
The Disc, Square, and Globe Cushions all share the same inner components, resulting in a similar feel, weight, and texture. These cushions are more substantial than typical cushions, offering a firm, supportive feel rather than a light and fluffy one. They are designed to provide support when used as head props or for other purposes requiring sturdiness.
The Bolster Cushion is even firmer and more structured, thanks to denser materials. We intentionally designed it to be more rigid, ensuring it maintains its shape when leaned on.
The Floor Cushion features a different inner structure, giving it a unique weight and feel. To ensure a consistent shape and prevent the filling from shifting, we use layers of bound wadding. These cushions could be used for meditation, providing a stable and comfortable seat, and are also popular with parents of young children who spend time on the floor.
Each cushion is thoughtfully developed with its texture, weight, size, and feel in mind, ensuring it suits a variety of practical uses.
Our Cushion Covers
Our handmade cushions come with removable covers. We release a new range of cushions about once a year. We primarily use 'deadstock' fabrics for our cushion covers. Deadstock refers to fabrics that are no longer in production, often surplus from larger designer production runs. When sourcing materials, we typically purchase the entire stock available. As a result, once a cushion in a particular fabric sells out, we are usually unable to restock it, making most of the cushions limited edition.
We use upholstery grade velvet and cotton or linen fabrics to make our cushion covers. The covers are removable and can be hand washed at home. There are care labels inside the cushion covers with directions on how to clean your cushions. We also have a care page here with tips.
We sell the cushion covers on their own too, if you already had one of our inners and wanted to get a new cover.
If you like the look of our calico inners without a cover, I suggest selecting the cover option 'Creamy Natural Canvas' from the different cushion cover options. It is the same shade as the calico, but provides protection for long term durability. We do not suggest using our cushions without a cover. Pictured above is two Globe Cushions with Natural Canvas Covers.
Stock update
We are now getting low in Bezant Gold & Baikal Blue Velvet options! Once these sell out we are unable to get more of the fabric.
Feel free to send me an email if you have any questions about our cushions :) hello@klay.co.nz