The Calgary Drop-In and Rehab Centre has a New Upholstery Shop

The Calgary Drop-In and Rehab Centre (the DI) has added an upholstery shop to its WoodWorks program. The upholstery shop is located in the same building as the full-service commercial wood shop and finishing shop that provides job skills training to homeless and at-risk youth. According to shop manger Tom Loszchuk, it’s the only place in Calgary currently offering cabinetry, finishing and upholstery in the same facility (the Bowden Institution being the only other place in the province).

The upholstery shop has been set up in the expansive and previously underused reception area and has a staff of two: Dwight Knudsen, a Bowness resident who formerly ran his own upholstery shop, and Adriana Rubio, a seamstress who has worked with the charity Sewing Seeds Canada. Youth in the WoodWorks program are brought in to work alongside Knudsen and Rubio on the various upholstery jobs, learning in a hands-on environment.

The shop is set up to do both single-item jobs and larger commercial projects. Since the official opening this past January, the most high-profile job has been the new benches and banquettes at The Mission restaurant, which took over the space formerly occupied by Candela and hired Korr Design to redesign the interior (the DI’s wood shop did carpentry and finishing work for the Mission as well). There are two more restaurant projects in the works – one downtown, one in Kensington – with more on the horizon.