Film, TV & production upholstery.

Production work isn’t like domestic work. The fabric has to behave under tungsten and HMI lighting; pattern moire, sheen and weave creep all show up on camera in ways they never do in a living room. Pieces have to sit wrinkle-free under heat. The schedule is whatever the schedule is – usually five to seven days, sometimes less. NDAs are honoured before a single image is shared. From our Stalybridge workshop we deliver to soundstages and locations across Greater Manchester and the North-West.

Film and TV upholstery in Greater Manchester

As established film and TV upholsterers working across Greater Manchester and the North-West, Valley Upholstery builds and recovers seating that has to perform on camera and survive the shoot. Production credits across our work include Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, HBO Max, Apple TV+ and Disney+, working with set design contractors and prop masters UK-wide. Whether you’re refreshing a cafe set in Tameside, building a 19th-century parlour for a period drama, or dressing a studio lounge, you get craftsmanship that lasts on screen and in real life.

Set dressing upholstery and custom set furniture builds

Set dressing upholstery is daily work for us: loose furniture, dressing pieces and background seating built to the production designer’s brief and the camera’s eye-line. We make custom set furniture from scratch too – sofas, armchairs, dining sets and lounge pieces tailored to script, era and director’s vision. Construction is matched to the shot, with the right cover for the lighting, and turned around on production schedules from our Stalybridge workshop across Greater Manchester.

Period furniture reupholstery for productions

Period furniture reupholstery for productions is where the craft really shows. Victorian chaise lounges, mid-century modern chairs, retro diner booths – rebuilt with hand-tied springs, horsehair, hessian and hand-stitched edges where the script demands authenticity, not just a modern cover thrown over a vintage frame. Continuity doubles are matched to the hero piece so a chair reads the same across every set-up. We source period-appropriate trims, braids and fabrics so the finish bears scrutiny in close-up, not just in a wide. Designers and prop masters across the North-West lean on this for shows that have to feel genuinely of their era.

Prop reupholstery for film and TV

Prop reupholstery for film and TV covers the one-off hero pieces and the specialist builds that don’t fit a standard order. We have recovered original aircraft seats to their exact stitch pattern and built bespoke wingback chairs for specialist productions, so a single distinctive prop gets the same attention as a full set. Send the reference and the deadline; we confirm the work, sign the NDA, and build to camera from Stalybridge, delivering across Greater Manchester and beyond.

Audience seating, Crib 5 and turnaround

For live-audience shoots, talk shows and panel formats we recover tip-up theatre seats, tiered bleacher stands and fixed auditorium seating to Crib 5 fire spec, the standard commercial set builds are held to. Volume seat runs get repeatable foam grades and panel templates so a tiered stand reads evenly on camera and wears the same across a long shooting block. Every fabric is checked under lighting before it leaves Tameside, NDAs are honoured, and urgent builds turn around in five to seven days. We come to your studio or location across the North-West, or you can call into the workshop in Stalybridge.

Related pages

• Reupholstery and rejuvenation – the core craft behind every set build
• Repairs and restoration – period and props restoration for productions
• Cinemas and auditoriums and hospitality – sibling commercial sectors
• Boeing 747 aircraft seats and police uniform wingback chair – specialist props proof
• Film and TV upholstery in Manchester and our Stalybridge workshop
• Get a production upholstery quote