Finns De Sicle
In a city where caterers and hairdressers are judged by the celebrity clientele they keep, it was only a matter of time before we would witness the likes of Finnish brothers Timo and Esa Yla-Soininmaki, slipcover makers to the stars.
Rows of autographed glossies from Nicole Kidman, Sting, Tom Selleck, Jamie Lee Curtis and Arsenio Hall hang in the pair’s decidedly unglamorous warehouse on a homely stretch of Centinela Avenue in West Los Angeles. Never mind that the stars’ interior designers, not the famous clients themselves, usually venture here to drop off swatches and review plans for custom-designed couches. As Timo, 42, puts it: “Every single movie star at any studio in the city is sitting on our furniture, one way or another.”
Until they opened a retail store, Beverly Hills Sofa Co., on La Brea Avenue in July, the brothers were scarcely known outside of L.A.’s design cognoscenti. They never advertised and only recently posted a sign at the warehouse. “It’s a fairly clued-in clientele,” Timo says. “They don’t use the Yellow Pages.”
The unpretentious Timo and Esa, 35, however, see no reason to keep the tastes of their celebrity clients under wraps. They willingly discuss the silver leather slipcovers they stitched for Madonna; the Ralph Lauren fabric they wrapped Billy Idol’s sofa in; the brown chenille and a matching tropical print they supplied Arnold Schwarzenegger; the white denim Meg Ryan flakes out on at her Montana cabin; and the satellite-dish cozy they made for Wayne Gretzky. Cindy Crawford had the brothers do the Bel-Air house she shared with Richard Gere, then, after the couple’s divorce, she had them re-cover a bedroom chair and chaise longue in white and off-white quilted and pique fabrics. Dustin Hoffman liked his herringbone linen slipcovers so much he wanted a version in canvas to protect his telescope.
Timo and Esa attribute their loyal following to their Scandinavian work ethic (they make house calls to mollify unhappy clients) and to timing.
When they moved to Los Angeles 14 years ago, the brothers apprenticed with a longtime slipcover maker named Monte Allen. After Allen retired, they set up shop under his name, both as a tribute and because they figured no one would be able to pronounce Yla-Soininmaki. As slipcovers slouched into style in the ‘90s, business took off and they started making their own furniture. The company now employs 50 people and has annual sales in the millions.
Of course, now that anyone can buy the look Timo and Esa helped popularize, do they worry slipcovers will slip out of vogue? Already, fashion-savvy customers are ordering covers that are more tightly fitted. Timo says he isn’t worried.
“It’s not a fad. The styles may change, but slipcovers are not going to disappear,” he says.
Satisfying famous customers never hurts, either.
“It helps people figure if you are good enough for Cindy,” Timo adds, “you are good enough for me.”