Artcraft Upholstering offers custom furniture upholstering, designer fabrics, window, sofa and chair cushions in addition to antique restorations. Located at 710 East 52nd Street, they've had their customers covered since 1955.

Trikam Parmar, Artcraft Upholstering's manager, said, "We do mainly household upholstery for the home, a lot of antique restoration and high-end furniture. This includes furniture from lots of upscale homes in the Indianapolis area, Morris Butler Home, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana State Museum, Children's Museum and Indianapolis Monthly's Dream Homes."

He learned the upholstery trade from his father and uncle, explaining, "This was a family business in India. Throughout my college years, I made money doing upholstery. This place has been here since the 1950s. I started managing it in 1983." Parmar earned a bachelor's degree in accounting and auditing and a master's degree in marketing. He considered working in the banking industry, but saw an advertisement for upholstery work. He applied and was hired. "In India, I started working in the upholstery business in 1971 in Ahmedabad, which is located about 290 miles north of Bombay. It is the seventh largest city in India with a population of six million people," he said.

"The way we learn upholstery in India is different. You have to have knowledge of how a piece of furniture frame is constructed and how to cut and sew. In India, you learn to do it all. That was a good thing for me. We are literally doing different work here every day. When I was growing up, we had 43 mills in Ahmedabad that produced industrial fabric. Even today, that is a considerable amount of fabric manufacturers. It's more of an artsy type of town, with historic businesses and architecture with very elaborate artworks and tourist attractions. It was called the 'Manchester of India' (referring to Manchester, England's renowned fabric industry). Those mills in India used to run three shifts 24 hours a day," he added.

Parmar described Ahmedabad: "As far as modernization and infrastructure goes, they are putting special land between the roads and bus stations. There has been a public-private partnership between India's government and several local companies. People can attend local universities where they can study for a master's degree in urban transportation in learning the system. They can get training and work on this project. They keep expanding the legs of the transportation system as Ahmedabad's bus system reaches over 80 percent of its population. A daily average of 35,000 riders have benefited from a growing transportation network for people unable to afford cars," he mentioned.

"When I was growing up in Ahmedabad, you could go anywhere in the city on buses. The route was moved outward from the downtown area to different communities," he noted.

Parmar appears in a local video (wfyiproductions.org/videoPlayer.asp?vid=85) promoting the merits of public transportation along with other civic leaders. It was produced by WFYI for Indy Harmoni Group, found at www.indyharmoni.org.

He also does woodworking in his shop, which contains 4,200 square feet and thousands of fabric patterns from around the world that include Belgian Mohair, Indian-made cotton and printed polyester materials, Italian tapestry and leather materials as well.

Artcraft Upholstering has over 50 different designer fabric brand names to choose from, including Duralee, Fabricut, Kravet and Robert Allen. "We are the only upholsterer in town with this kind of selection of fabrics," he emphasized.

Parmar described some trends that have changed over the years: "The basic structure of the furniture we work on is still the same, but the size of some furniture is larger because the size of some homes has changed. Some furniture looks massive compared to what was made 40 or 50 years ago. If your sofa or chair is uncomfortable to sit on, we can modify the cushions and let customers try different pieces of fabric. We can fill the cushions with better quality foam. We have 10 to 15 different kinds of foam (that vary in firmness) in our shop. The best part of upholstery is like being an artist in having the satisfaction of doing something unique. That's what got me into the business. We want to tell people what upholstery is all about. It is for people who are looking for a certain kind of comfort level in their furniture."

"We do a lot of family heirloom pieces, needlework pillows and cushions. People have certain fabric preferences. We can change the existing fabric and make it friendlier with their new décor. We work with about 40 interior designers around the state and also do upholstery work with high-end home owners where we help them determine what can and can't be done with existing furniture," he said.

"In the last five years, the largest part of the business has been filling cushions. They tell me, 'this is better than when it was brand new.' We make custom-sized cushions for sofas, bay windows and breakfast nooks in homes. We also have upholstered walls and made headboards for beds. We recently completed two big projects in Columbus, Indiana and have reupholstered furniture for vacation homes in Michigan City," he added.

According to their website, www.artcraftupholstery.com, reupholstering is a smart alternative to spending money on more expensive, lower quality, new furniture. Artcraft consists of select craftsman with many years of experience in custom upholstering, furniture reconstruction and slipcovers. They take pride in quality workmanship and service to their customers.

They are open Monday through Friday 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and closed on Sunday. Their phone number is (317) 283-2611. Customers can also request price quotes for work at: artcraft_uph@hotmail.com.

Artcraft Upholstering's selection of designs and patterns can add a distinctive look to any home décor.