IN SEARCH OF THE RIGHT PIECE

IN SEARCH OF THE RIGHT PIECE

This Oakville company customizes furnishings to ensure customers get perfect items for their homes

SOMETIMES, IT’S DIFFICULT to find just the right piece of furniture: that console table is gorgeous, but six inches too long; the comfortable sofa is to die for, but the fabric choices leave you cold and, really, you would have preferred a different style of leg.

That’s where Cocoon Furnishings has made its name. Owned and run by a husbandand-wife team, David and Glyn Austin – he’s in charge of the business side of things; she’s the creative influence who curates the collections – Cocoon specializes in custom pieces.

The company’s new, expanded Oakville showroom, Glyn says, is often a jumping-off point. If customers find the perfect piece there, great; if not, no problem. Sometimes they’re moving and need pieces they can have right away; other times they’re planning a whole new look.

“Our design team will sit down with them and really go over their floor plans and what they’re doing and put together a whole home,” says David. “We’re not just trying to sell them what we have on the floor. We always say, ‘Try our chair for how it fits.’ Once you figure out what you’re looking for, it’s easy to pick the arms, the legs, the fabric.

“Sometimes, people are scaling down. They may have room for only a 21-inch side table and they can’t find it. We’ll make it for them in any size, wood species, or finish.” Their custom-made pieces are produced locally.

The company also boasts a vast selection of items for every room, including chairs and sofas, tables, beds and linens, lighting, area rugs, and outdoor furniture. Special collections – including those of Kelly Wearstler, Daryll Carter, Suzanne Kasler, Barbara Barry and Michael Weiss, among others – are also a magnet for those who love great design.

Glyn started the business after she and David moved back from Vancouver in 2000. A designer, she was always heading to downtown Toronto to Designers’ Walk at Dupont and Davenport Avenues to source things for her clients. She saw an opportunity to open a business in Oakville. “It really took off. We got very big, very quickly,” Glyn says. “My husband said he would give me a year (of his time and business expertise) to launch it. Now, 15 years later, we have a new building and he’s still here.”

At first, Cocoon was open exclusively to the design trade, but it was later expanded to serve the public, too.

Because consumers are getting more sophisticated, Glyn says, they seek out Cocoon’s staff that has specialized expertise, for example in lighting or upholstery or rugs.

Especially gratifying, the couple say, is when clients refer family and friends, and are so happy with what they’ve done for their city home, they return to have Cocoon do their cottage and again for their winter home in Florida or the Caribbean.

“It’s a long-term relationship,” David says. “It’s more than someone coming in and buying a lamp. We’re trying to sell products that work for them.” •

Cocoon Furnishings 2695 Bristol Circle, Unit 2, Oakville 905-829-2780 www.cocoonfurnishings.ca