If you’re looking for a more “green” alternative for your indoor or outdoor furniture, you need go no further than Nikita Furniture, conveniently located on Broadway in Saratoga Springs, just south of the City Center.  Nikita INDOOR OUTDOOR Convertible Furniture offers what founder Nikita Grigoriev calls “the super futon”.   However, this is not your old college futon. 
This uniquely-designed convertible furniture has a simple high-quality contemporary look.  Products range from indoor sofas, chairs, end tables to outdoor furniture, using sturdy weather-resistant fabric.  All are hand-made in their manufacturing facility in Richfield Springs, NY, using local wood products.  The chairs and sofas convert into horizontal foot rests or beds.  The combination of a simple efficient design, quality, and versatility sets this “super futon” product line above the others.

Nikita himself designed the first patented futon convertible sofa bed in 1982. The patent was granted in 1985 and it established a new product category in the US patent office.  
A former aeronautical engineer and an airline pilot, Nikita quit the airline industry and began making his earlier-designed futons through Convertible Furnishings in 1983. Two years later, Nikita purchased an old building in Richfield Springs, NY and assembled a crew of three production workers and one sales representative.  At its peak he was building and distributing to over 100 futon suppliers.  But the market changed.  He eventually sold his product license and closed his wholesale accounts.  "What really killed us was China.  When China got into it we got out of it."
In 1988 Shaffield Industries Inc. acquired the license for the then called Simple Design futon.  Shaffield grew to become the world’s largest futon manufacturer and distributor.  Overextended and out-competed by the Chinese, Shaffield Industries, which had been sold to Winston Corporation, was liquidated three years later. 
Once the former Shaffield Industries was liquidated, Nikita, who was contractually barred from designing convertibles on his own when he sold the license to Shaffield, was freed up to create once again.  He went to work redesigning his product to be one made with the utmost efficiency and reliability.

In 2003 Nikita developed a new outdoor line of unique self-adjusting convertible loungers and deck furnishings, and renamed the company to Nikita INDOOR OUTDOOR.
“Our design is just pure common sense… There are no unnecessary points in the frame.”  The use of four-bar linkage triangle supports makes the frame extremely stable and sturdy.  Nikita designed a unique reclining mechanism that changes the angle of the seat of the back, while maintaining stability.
“The key to trying to compete with China is efficiency.  You have to make it (your product) with no waste of resources, energy or time.”  According to Nikita their focus is on the economic bottom line and impact on the environment, “but this is how we have always been.  We got this far because of our sustainable, renewable, no-waste approach.”
His furniture is made to order in his manufacturing facility at Richfield Springs.  With limited space, Nikita approaches furniture manufacturing with total efficiency in mind.  What he calls a “hyper-efficiency design.”  Says Nikita, “There are no unnecessary parts or materials.”

According to Nikita, his manufacturing site and operation is highly efficient.  “This is not a building where wood is piled up and you don’t know where anything is.  Everything is accounted for.  Everything is used where you have no waste of motions or movements.  There is no double-handling.  There is no waste of movement and no waste of space, and so the whole operation is extremely efficient.  We make it here and we don’t have to ship it.”  According to Nikita, that’s their advantage over China.”

He uses only wood grown in the region – predominantly ash, cherry, and white oak.  He offers many different wood finishes, most are environmentally-friendly, hand-rubbed made from linseed oil, a natural product.  “This is a completely benign, non-toxic product.  The wood becomes more stable and enriched.”  Any extra wood left over from production is burned in a high-efficiency stove which heats the building.  The remaining wood chips and saw dust are delivered to local farmers who use it for animal bedding, and after is composted and returned to the soil.  According to Nikita, “This amounts to nearly 100% efficiency in wood resource utilization.”

Their cushions come from a mattress manufacturer in Connecticut, one of the oldest in the country.  The cushion covers are hand-sown by a local seamstress.
“This is not just a product.  This is a reflection of who we are.  It’s very personal and very interactive.”
This is definitely a product to be seen and experienced!

Opened since September 2009, Nikita says most of his clients are walk-ins, “We sell and ship to people all over the country.  We get a lot of foot traffic from people at the Convention Center.” 
“Everything is made to order.  We have so many combinations of fabrics, woods, finishes. Being so small we can offer an enormous variety.”  Customers can select the size, wood, and fabric they desire.  Most of the parts are standardized, meaning a single chair may fold down and be used in combination with a folded-down love seat to create a larger sleeping bed. 
Says Nikita, “The super-futon is a whole new way of thinking about furniture.”  The sleek, simple “Transitional Style” furniture has a clean, uncluttered look to it.  “Some call it Danish-modern,” says Nikita.  To him, it’s the look of simple efficiency.    This style embodies his mantra and vision to “Let the look follow the essence of a product.”  He adds, “The final shape is determined by the essence of what it is and what it does.  Our furniture is the essence of efficiency, simple and versatile.”

Their prices are competitive with other locally-owned furniture stores, but instead of supporting a worker in another state, buying furniture from Nikita helps support a local Saratoga business and provides jobs for people in our region.  As for future plans, Nikita - a furniture maker by day, classical guitar player by night, says he’s looking to open more stores and hoping to draw more business once he goes through his first full summer tourist season here in Saratoga.  “Our business grows by word of mouth.  We’re hoping as people hear about us they will tell their friends.”

To find out more go to their website at www.justleanback.com or stop in at one of their two show rooms:

Futons in Saratoga Springs, NY
508 Broadway
Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
(518) 796-1887

Futons in Oneonta, NY
7 Elm Street
Oneonta, NY 13820
(607) 267-4623

www.justleanback.com