Materials and Fabrics
We love building with fabric, so why wouldn’t we insist on using the best quality fabrics, frame materials and fittings?
Over the years we have carefully chosen fabrics and other materials which experience tells us will make products to the only standard we want to offer – those that look best and last the longest. We source best quality fittings made from (316) marine grade stainless steel, and when we can’t find them we make them ourselves, exactly how we want them.
And we can make almost anything you need in beautiful 316 (marine) grade stainless steel.
Fabrics
There is a plethora of industrial fabrics available these days – we work closely with our suppliers and very carefully choose the fabrics we believe offer the best balance of quality and value. We continuously revisit our choices to ensure we offer only what we think are the best available fabrics for each job, based on our experience with each.
Below you will find more information about the fabrics we use.
Serge Ferrari
Serge Ferrari fabrics, made in Switzerland, are recognized throughout the world as absolute top of the range architectural fabrics. Ferrari’s patented Precontraint (“pre-stretch”) technology ensures that these fabrics do not stretch or “creep” over time when tensioned. Their special coatings resist dirt build-up, microbe growth and UV, are flame retardant and assist with self (rain) and manual cleaning.
Serge Ferrari Soltis:
PVC-coated polyester mesh in various degrees of “open-ness” and a huge range of colours.
Serge Ferrari
502 Precontraint:
Coloured PVC-coated polyester architectural PVC.
Serge Ferrari Precontraint
702/802 & Others:
White PVC-coated polyester with polymer (PVDF) coating.
Serge Ferrari Stam 6002
(on fabric membrane):
Coloured PVC-coated polyester with matt textured top surface & PVDF.
Metalwork & Fittings
We design and fabricate the metal structural components used in our shade structures from both mild steel and stainless steel. How do we show potential customers the quality of our metal workmanship?
We can only think of one way – providing photographs of our work in the gallery. Please take a few moments to see and judge for yourself.
Needless to say, we take huge pride in how our product looks, and our staff have been meticulously trained to produce the detail of workmanship required to attain the standard of finish we require. Over the years we have developed an in-house culture of excellence which is expressed right down to the tiniest detail, like our rule of “no steel components next to painted surfaces without something soft between”. Nylon washer suppliers love us! We even have our own custom nylon bushes made to help protect paintwork.
We also stock a whole range of stainless steel components we use in tensioned fabric rigging. Some we import, some we have designed and made ourselves for our own work and found them to be in the “really useful” basket. Feel free to ask us about supplying these items.
Order custom length rigging wires and terminals and enjoy our free roll-swaging service.
Custom design 316 grade stainless steel shade sail corner fittings; attach easily to shade sails and include a grooved front edge to suit cord or cable.
Custom (including to your design) membrane corner plates; 316 grade stainless steel or mild steel; any size, and shape; water jet or laser cut, matt, polished or brushed
Custom (to your design) or our standard design attachment fittings for shade sails and tensioned fabric projects (stainless or mild steel); wall brackets, column & back-stay fittings etc
Custom (including to your design) membrane corner plates; 316 grade stainless steel or mild steel; any size, and shape; water jet or laser cut, matt, polished or brushed
1×19 strand 316 grade stainless steel wire rope (4, 5, 6, 8 & 10mm)
316 grade stainless steel fork-fork and swage-fork turnbuckles; threaded swage
316 grade stainless steel “D” & twisted shackles, long shanked shackles, eye nuts
Ask about our free roll-swage service
Detailed Specifications of Our Marine-Grade Epoxy Paint System
Primer 1 (1 coat):
International Brand Interguard 269: A two-coat epoxy primer for use on new and renovated steel; colour red, solids 47%. Ask us for the manufacturer’s data sheet.
Primer 2 (3 coats):
International brand Interseal 670HS: “A low VOC, two component high build, high solids surface tolerant epoxy maintenance coating providing excellent anti-corrosive protection in industrial, coastal structures, bridges and offshore environments in both atmospheric exposure and immersion service”. 2 coats, 100-150 microns per coat; ask us for the manufacturer’s data sheet.
Finish coats (1):
International brand Interthane 990: “A two component acrylic polyurethane finish giving excellent durability and long term recoatability”. Ask us for the manufacturer’s data sheet.
Custom Stainless Steel
We do balustrade work too: stainless or mild steel posts and rails, 316 grade stainless steel rigging, and even timber hand railing (including teak).
Have a special stainless steel item you really want but just can’t find anywhere? Ask us – we can draw anything at all, finalise a design with you, and have it made and shipped. Boat & pool ladders, specialist bathroom/kitchen/bar fittings, indoor/outdoor gadgets….. anything.
Timber Components
If you’re like us, you think timber adds something really special to modern architectural solutions. Fabric shade structures are no exception, and we take any opportunity to use beautiful timbers, such as Golden Teak, redwood and pinkadoo, sourced here in Thailand and neighboring Myanmar, in our products.
And because we love timber (and forests), we are extremely particular about where our timber comes from:
• We source all timber products from a supplier who we trust to source it via a responsible Chain of Custody compliant process
• All teak and other hardwood timbers we source are subject to Chain of Custody documentation for responsible sourcing
• We purchase no illegally harvested timbers, nor are any used in our products
• Our Thailand-sourced teak comes with FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certification authenticating its source from renewable resources
We print PVC solid and mesh fabrics in-house, with state of the art high resolution UV-cured ink jet, up to 3 metres wide.