How Our Bar Stools Are Made: Inside the Factory in Malmö

In our own factory in Malmö, in southern Sweden. Every stage after the raw materials arrive happens there: the steel is cut, bent and welded, the frames are powder-coated, the oak is machined, joined and lacquered, the seats are upholstered by hand, and every stool is checked and packed fully assembled.

We buy materials, not parts: Swedish precision steel tube, solid FSC-certified European oak, cold-cut foam, beech plywood and upholstery fabrics. Keeping everything else in-house means one team is responsible for each stool from the first cut to the last check, and it is also what makes custom heights, replaceable cushions and spare parts possible. Read more on our production page.

In five stages: the precision steel tube is cut to length, bent where the design curves, welded into a frame, ground smooth at the joints, and powder-coated. Accurate cutting and welding are what make every frame identical and square, so the stool stands level on all four feet.

We use Swedish precision steel tube to EN 10305-5, drawn to tight tolerances so that joints fit before they are welded. A finished Freja frame weighs about 10 kg (22 lbs). The table sets out each stage and what it controls.

From solid FSC-certified European oak, machined into legs, rails, seat and backrest, then joined and glued into a frame that is checked for square. The frame is sanded, stained if it is dark oak, and sealed with a matt lacquer that protects the wood without making it glossy.

Glued joints in solid hardwood have nothing to work loose, which is why our oak stools, like our steel ones, carry a 200 kg (440 lbs) load rating and a 10-year warranty. Our oak bar stools guide explains the finishes.

By hand, in the same factory. Each seat starts as a beech plywood core; cold-cut foam at 55 kg/m³ is shaped and fixed to it, and the fabric is cut, fitted and upholstered over the foam. Cold-cut foam keeps its shape far longer than the soft foams used in cheaper stools.

We upholster in three families of fabric, vegan leather, velvet and bouclé, each tested for abrasion and chosen for kitchen use. On Freja and Svea the finished cushion is fixed to the frame with two screws, so it can be replaced years later without replacing the stool. Our upholstery guide compares the fabrics.

Every stool is assembled, checked and packed in the factory. We check that it stands level, that joints and welds are clean, that the finish is even and undamaged, and that the upholstery is tight and correctly fitted. A stool that does not pass is corrected before it is packed.

Because the stool is delivered fully assembled, the joints you rely on are the ones we made and checked, not ones tightened at home with a key from the box. Our steel stools have also been tested by RISE, the Research Institutes of Sweden, to EN 16139 for non-domestic use; see bar stool weight capacity.

Alexandra Pettersson, co-founder and designer of by Crea, an interior architect by training. Each design is drawn around the same measurements, 66 and 76 cm seats and the 23 to 26 cm legroom rule, and developed with the factory so that it can be made well, not just drawn well.

The table shows when each bar stool was introduced. Bruno is named after Alexandra's father.

Because the details that decide how long a stool lasts are the ones you cannot inspect in a showroom: the fit of a joint before welding, the thickness of the powder coat, the density of the foam, the tightness of the upholstery. Making them ourselves is the only way to control them all.

It also gives customers things a remote supply chain cannot: seat heights made to fit a specific counter, cushions that can be replaced, spare parts years later, and a single team to talk to if anything is ever wrong. That is what the 10-year warranty rests on. Our guide to whether expensive bar stools are worth it explains what that means for value.