Curveply Specialty Products Inc. has a thing about bottoms. Yes, that’s right, butts!

With sales offices across North America, Curveply has established itself as a leading player in the manufacturing of unique seating solutions. In fact, a visit to their Bracebridge-based factory (alternatively, check out their website at www.curveply.com) reveals the folks at Curveply make anything butt – oops, but – typical wood chairs.

  My favourite has got to be what I call the daisy chair. Picture, if you will, the type of plywood chair you might expect to find in a doctors’ or dentists’ waiting room. What Curveply does is to turn that otherwise mundane looking object into a work of art, shaping the backrest into a large daisy. Neat stuff, and definitely the kind of chair you’d be forgiven for wanting to take home with you when your visit’s over. (In fact, many of Curveply’s products do end up in people’s homes, and are specially created to lend a unique finish to many a dining rooms and kitchens.)

Hot new product. 

Curveply has recently developed a new product. It is an all hardwood, plywood barstool and it is such a hot item that others have already tried to copy it. This unique item is suited for both traditional and contemporary settings and is available in a number of different configurations -- 31" or 24" height; hard maple or birch face veneer; swivels 180 or 360 degrees; with or without back; metal ring and back support; finished or unfinished; and assembled or ready-to-assemble.

 Using only the best quality hand-selected materials, Curveply works closely with its clients to ensure its engineering practices provide the best possible finished product and value for money – something also helped by the lower overheads and skilled employees found in such abundance in Muskoka.

  Such is Curveply’s reputation that many custom builders and furniture makers rely upon the company to manufacture a wide range of curved-plywood products, including curved railings for chair-backs, tables and baby cribs (this is done using the unique Vertaply Construction process.

How do they do it?

Putting a curve in material as strong and sturdy as a piece of plywood is a complicated procedure. The product first needs to be carefully designed. This is done using Curveply’s in-house CAD software, which can accurately handle the most complicated of designs and dimensions (just like the daisy chair mentioned). Once the design is completed, the CAD file is transformed into a CNC program, which is used by their CNC (computer numerically controlled.) router.  The contour of each part is based on the die that used in the press.  All of their dies are made right in-house, in their facility, and any curved item that they produce is first pressed in the High Frequency Press.

 Curveply also prides itself on being environmentally friendly. For the most part, water-soluble adhesives are used, producing an extremely rigid product. The glue doesn’t bleed through the surface of the materials used and, as only water is required for clean up, both the environment and the owner benefit.

  For further information, contact Curveply’s President, John Robinson, at Box 1357, Bracebridge, ON P1L 1V5; or phone 705-646-8844 or toll free 1-888-277-5556. You can also email the business at curveply@muskoka.com