Over the last 5 decades Richard Schultz has produced many iconic café furniture pieces that have stood the test of time and the design can still be classed as fashionable in today’s world.
Richard Schultz was born in 1926 and began his career by studying firstly at the Iowa State University as well as the Illinois Institute of technology in Chicago. In 1951 Schultz joined office furniture giants Knoll in 1951 and was commissioned to work with Harry Bertoia and his experiments with metal. In his life he has also worked for Stow/Davis to design office furniture systems.
Richard Schulz main work has been designing outdoor café furniture and his first design was a table aptly named the Petal Table. The original design was based on Queen Anne’s Lace that is a common weed and the reason for this design was to accompany Bertoia’s famous wire chairs. This design was recently made part of the permanent design collection in the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
It was Florence Knoll that commissioned Schultz to begin making a range a of durable outdoor furniture. The design that Schultz came up with was called the Leisure Line. The idea of this line was simplicity. The seat ad back of the café chairs were made from woven vinyl coated polyester yarn on a simple metal frame. There was also a chaise longue included in this range that was made in much the same way, but included wheels on one end to increase the mobility of the lounger. Matching dining tables were also created to accompany the outdoor furniture collection.
Schultz broke away from Knoll but has never strayed too far from the company. Even the manufacturing plant that was owned by the Schultz family was located not too far from the Knoll headquarters. This month sees the Schultz collection returning to Knoll as Richard Schultz has decided to retire from his business at the age of 86.

The smoking ban has been in effect for a number of years now and most smokers are used to having to sit outside in order to smoke. This is one of the reasons that outdoor heaters are becoming more and more popular. Electrical contractors are now advising pubs, cafes, restaurants and hotels to think about heating there outdoor areas. The reason for this is to try and make use of areas that were once not being used. As well as thinking about the café furniture, for example whether to by rattan chairs or aluminium tables, the area that surrounds them needs to attract customers, and no one wants to sit in the cold!
According to the Scottish Licensed Trade Association (SLTA) around 400 public houses have been forced to close since the start of the smoking ban. Just before this happened, research showed that 48% of the people that were pub regulars smoked. It is therefore important that in order to maintain business, pub owners need to think about the areas outside, to not only provide a space for smokers to sit in the colder months, but to also expand the amount of space that they can provide in these months as well.
One of the things about outdoor heaters that should be noted is that there has been a significant change in the way that outdoor heaters operate. Until around 2007 and the Energy Saving Trust (EST) urged retailers to stop selling heaters that require gas to run them. The reason for this is that a lot of the heat produced from the gas heaters escapes into the atmosphere without heating the area meaning that the energy efficiency is poor.
It is for this reason that electric heaters have become more and more popular, in particular the Infra-Red heaters. Not only are they energy efficient, converting 95% of electricity into heat, but they have the ability to only heat solid objects and use only a third of the cost. This is the reason that they are becoming more and more popular.

Traditionally Rattan is a form of palm vine. Mainly used for the production of furniture items such as baskets and chairs, and can be found in dense jungle areas such as South America and South East Asia.
This type of furniture is usually very expensive and due to the increasing developments in technology, this type of rattan material can be completely imitated and has proved popular as the latest form of outdoor furniture. Some could even say that it rivals the aluminium outdoor furniture ranges that we see outside many cafes or restaurants. Mainly used outside synthetic rattan furniture is very durable and can withstand even some of the most extreme weather conditions.
The reason that rattan outdoor furniture is popular is that it has a very distinct aesthetic look. Most common furniture sets include dining tables or café tables with wicker outdoor chairs, lounge beds and arm chairs. Rattan can also be used to make garden sofas and coffee tables with some even including glass inserts. All weather foam seat pads are usually placed on the chairs or sofas for comfort and some are even attached to the framework itself.
Another piece of outdoor furniture that is proving popular particularly outside bars, restaurants and cafes is all weather teak furniture. Available with aluminium table bases to complete the look. Synthetic teak is just made from high density polystyrene which is combined with various pigments in order to create a robust and durable aesthetically pleasing set of outdoor furniture.
Outdoor synthetic teak tables and chairs are popular among commercial properties whereas rattan furniture is more common among the domestic market. Both types of outdoor furniture are available for free delivery from Café Reality by clicking the links below:

http://www.cafereality.co.uk/rattan-furniture-1.php

http://www.cafereality.co.uk/outdoor-tables-22.php

Due to a recent request that I had to try and source a coffee table from a previous blog, I decided to find some other interesting coffee tables to show not only the importance of how they can create character to your office or cafe design but to also show you that there are some very interesting and unique designs out there.

Coffee tables, like reception desks and other reception furniture as well as cafe furniture are very important as the reception area or lounge area in a cafe is the first impression that your potential clients or customers get when coming to your office or cafe. Once you have selected your sofas, tub chairs or beam seating, cafe furniture etc… in your reception area, it is then time to think carefully about what sort of coffee table you are going to buy.

Below are some pictures of some very interesting and unique coffee tables that might appeal to you to either compliment your existing office furniture or new office furniture or perhaps even in your cafe or restaurant and even your own home:

1 Oak veneer coffee table

This has a contemporary design and a rich dark oak veneer finish. The knotted shape adds an elaborate artistic feature and this coffee table is built to last. Designed by Kinoguerin the table has a semi-gloss finish and has white edging to complete the look.

2 Aqua square aquarium coffee table

This aquarium come coffee table and will look great in any reception as there is a 25 gallon fish tank in the base of the table. It can provide an interesting feature to any reception area and as you probably might have guessed, fish are not included.

3 Touch sensitive coffee table

A touch sensitive coffee table that has an underlying LED light system that lights up an area when something is placed on it. This can be turned off however when not in use.

When we look around at the chairs today, whether they are café chairs, office chairs, dining chairs or restaurant furniture, we can see a lot of the more designer ones are actually remakes of chairs that were designed 50 years ago. For example many of the chairs made by the Eames brothers in the 50s are still as popular as when they were first manufactured. There chair which is the subject of this blog post however is a chair that can be used for a host of applications. It can be a café chair, a restaurant chair, a meeting room chair or conference chair, even a dining room chair. The chair that I am talking about is the Paulistano chair.

Designed in 1957 by Mendes de Rocha in Sao Paulo Brazil, the chair won the 2006 Priztker Prize for design and has joined the ranks of other furniture items such as the Herman Miller Aeron chair for iconic furniture.

The café chair itself has been made from a single 17ft steel rod that has been bent using 200lbs of hydraulic pressure over 24 hours to make the framework of the chair. This is then welded in just one place and a leather cover made from almost an entire hide is that fitted to the chair to make the seat and back. The great thing about the leather used is that as time goes by, it adds depth and luster and comfort is never compromised. The chair can be easily adjusted by moving the leather sling up and down the frame to create either a slouching seat position or an upright seated position depending on the user’s preference. Due to the chairs quality and design it has become part of the permanent collection in the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA).

I don’t know about you, but when I think about canteen furniture, I think back to when I was at school and everyone piled into the assembly hall for lunch. We had bog standard polypropylene chairs that were dark grey in colour and standard folding tables with a metal rim that I am sure everyone will remember. The furniture didn’t match or have anything to do with the décor. Nowadays you really can buy canteen furniture that looks great without spending a fortune.

Cafe Reality has a huge range of canteen chairs that will appeal to any environment, whether it be a school hall, exam hall, office canteen or even in a prison canteen, there will be something to suit everyone. Plastic chairs are the most common form of chair that is used within canteens. The reason for this are that they are easy to clean as you just need to wipe them, tamper proof and hard wearing as the chances are they will get a lot of use. A further requirement is that they stack; the reason for this is that usually the canteen space is sometimes used for other things so need to be stored away efficiently. There are huge ranges of bright colours available with these chairs, from orange to blue and yellow to white, so the aesthetics of the room do not need to be compromised.

Tables are also the other main piece of café furniture in a canteen. These tables are usually light weight and can fold away in order to be stored more efficiently. There are now wide ranges of folding tables that are suitable for the canteen. Not only are there a wide range of finish options with different coloured frames as well, but you can actually use a lot of them outdoors for outdoor events and fetes.

For all your canteen furniture needs click here

The restaurant is an all you can eat buffet style restaurant serving food from across the globe, from Chinese cuisine to Tex-Mex, from Great British classics to Vietnamese dining. The restaurant does not have the usual restaurant furniture, such as a single café table with four café chairs, but tables up to 30 feet long with benches that can seat up to 30 people with 15 people down each side, making it ideal for large parties and also promotes social ability among diners. There are also smaller tables with few dining chairs available so there is something for everyone.

The area not only caters for diners but also has a separate bar, which adds to the street concept that Nitin Bhatnagar is trying to create. Nitin Bhatnagar found his trade by working at the famous Taj Mahal restaurant in Mumbai

“If you go to Bangkok or Singapore, you will find night markets with people selling delicious things, vying for your business, trying to get you to taste their food. This is the atmosphere that we are trying to create. Maybe you will try a satay here, something from the barbecue there – whatever catches your eye. You meet friends or your family. You have a beer, then go back for something more to eat. We are creating the ambience of the streets. We are getting the outside inside – making a great place for our customers to explore.”

The restaurant employs 120 staff and who have their work cut out. 80 percent of the food will be prepared and cooked fresh in front of your eyes and a meal will cost £12.99 during the week and £15.99 at the weekend, bringing you quality food at an affordable price.

This is just the first of a chain of 8 that plan to open in the next couple of years and will bring over 1000 jobs across the country.

Whenever there is a party or an event, furniture is needed. Now you could go down the route of buying or hiring some café tables and café chairs, or if the event is outdoors perhaps some aluminium furniture or some rattan chairs and tables. There is another option however that will definitely get your guests talking and will almost certainly be the highlight of the party and that is illuminated furniture.

The most sophisticated furniture currently available in this department is manufactured by Illuminated Event Hire in Australia. They offer a huge range of furniture that has 16 different colour options along with 4 different strobe settings all controlled by an infrared remote. Battery powered that lasts up to anywhere between 12 and 20 hours, these items range from modular bar units, ottomans, cubes, bench seats, even café tables and banquet tables.

Unfortunately this is manufactured in Australia and only available for hire in Australia. As the technology progresses I am sure that such complex and technical furniture will be available in the UK soon and we at Café Reality will be there to welcome this with open arms.

For those that are looking for something similar but can’t afford to spend a small fortune on this type of party piece furniture, we do have some budget cubes that cantain led technology available to you.

The first are the light up stools. These are powered by mains electricity and available in white, red, blue or green. These are for use indoors or outdoors and are available for delivery within 7-10 working days from order.

The second option is the multi coloured light up stools. These are battery powered and include a remote control and has 6 different colour options.

Lambeth Council have recently released a bill that requires all cafes, restaurants and bistros to pay a tax if they want to put café furniture or restaurant furniture outside. There is already a tax that states this but it is set to increase at the beginning of next year. The council have said that they are “standardising” the cost of putting outdoor furniture on the streets in the borough of Lambeth. The council plan to charge up to £824 to keep café tables and café chairs outside, which has come as a huge shock and created a lot of upset amongst the owners of cafes, restaurants and bistros in the area.

Shop owners have predicted that with this rise in tax, their overheads are set to rise by about 20% which in some cases may force certain cafes to go bankrupt, due to the economic climate at the moment. Another problem is that by not having outdoor furniture, small businesses feel that they will be driving customers away, not to mention the fact it will decrease the amount of people they can serve.

In response to this the Lambeth Council have said “Lambeth council wants to make sure it is supporting local businesses, which is why we are looking at this proposal again.”

“Councils everywhere are having to look carefully at pricing structures to make sure they are fair and reasonable, but also set at levels that allow vital services to be maintained.”

One of the owners that has been caught up in this is Jane Lushington who owns the popular Tea West cafe in Rosendale Road. She claimed that she has been forced to remove her outdoor café furniture because she couldn’t afford the £750 licence.

The actual cost for putting just one or two café chairs outside is £464 however for more than 21 chairs, the price almost doubles to £824 per year. Not only this just to put in an application for the licence will cost the business £103. I t seems that this could be running trend and we could see other boroughs taking part.

Our comprehensive selection of canteen tables includes value for money rectangular canteen tables with easy clean beech MFC tops on a 24 hour delivery. The heavy duty steel frame is manufactured from 16 gauge steel in epc graphite paint finish. There are five size options available and these canteen tables are delivered flat packed for easy assembly. Blue box canteen tables further option and consist of  60mm diameter chrome tubular legs which are screwed on to the underside of the table top. Another popular canteen table option is the fixed seat canteen table options offered by the Brewster range. 
The heavy duty steel frame is available in silver or black finish with fixed polypropylene seats offered in blue, red, black, beige or green. Tops are 25mm thick and available from the Formica fundamentals selection of wood and plain coloured laminates. Round canteen tables are offered within our fully welded table offer with tops in oak, beech, maple or light grey. A good folding canteen table option is the Chaz folding table which consists of silver metal legs which fold underneath the top when not in use for easy and convenient storage. The Chaz table is currently available at only £98..00 and includes free next day delivery. Please contact us for any further requirements for canteen tables