Upholstery is the work of providing furniture, especially seats, with padding, springs, webbing, and fabric or leather covers. The word upholstery comes from the Middle English word upholder, which referred to a tradesman who held up his goods. The term is equally applicable to domestic, automobile, airplane and boat furniture. A person who works with upholstery is called an upholsterer; an apprentice upholsterer is sometimes called an outsider or trimmer. Traditional upholstery uses materials like coil springs (post-1850), animal hair (horse, hog & cow), coir, straw and hay, hessians, linen scrims, wadding, etc., and is done by hand, building each layer up. In contrast, modern upholsterers employ synthetic materials like dacron and vinyl, serpentine springs, and so on.

There are essentially four elements common to most upholstered items. These are 1) the frame; 2) the support system; 3) the cushioning; and 4) the covering, which are discussed in turn below.

Most upholstered furniture is constructed out of wood. The best furniture is constructed from hardwood like oak or alder. These woods are stronger than softwood in general, and allow for joints that are less likely to loosen over time. Nails, screws, tacks and staples, all of which may be a part of the upholstering process, hold better in hardwood than in softwood. Hardwood laminates or even plywood are used in bracing and blocking joints, since laminates are stronger than their solid-wood counterparts.

Laura Ashley (7 September 1925 – 17 September 1985) was a Welsh fashion designer and businesswoman. She originally made furnishing materials in the 1950s.She later expanded into clothing design and manufacture in the 1960s. The Laura Ashley style is characterized by Romantic English designs—often with a 19th-century rural feel—and the use of natural fabrics.

Although her Welsh parents lived in London, just before her birth, her mother returned home to allow Laura Mountney to be born Welsh at her grandmother's home, 31 Station Terrace, in Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil. She was raised in a civil service family as a strict Baptist. The chapel she attended in Dowlais (Hebron) was Welsh language and although she could not understand the language, she loved it, especially the singing. Educated at Marshall's School in Merthyr Tydfil until 1932, she was then sent to the Elmwood School, Croydon. She was evacuated back to Wales aged 13, with so many World War II evacuees there were no school places left, and she attended the Aberdare Secretarial School. In 1942, she left school at 16, and served in the Women's Royal Naval Service. During this period she met engineer Bernard Ashley at a youth club in Wallington. After the war, Bernard was posted to India with the Gurkhas, and the pair corresponded by letter. From 1945 to 1952 she worked as a secretary for the National Federation of Women's Institutes in London, and married Bernard in 1949.