Cuff Studio is an evolving exploration reflecting how two California creatives define home. Co-founded by Wendy Schwartz and Kristi Bender, Cuff Studio designs and produces lighting, furniture and objects in California. Inspired by geometry and driven by meticulous craftsmanship, Cuff Studio has mastered the balance of indulgence and approachability, form and function.
00:00–01:05 — Why craftsmanship is becoming a competitive advantage in a speed-driven industry
01:05–03:40 — The founding story of Cuff Studio and the partnership behind it
03:40–05:31 — The Graystone Mansion project that sparked their first collection
05:31–06:44 — Choosing Los Angeles manufacturing and staying close to the work
06:44–08:07 — Building a high-touch, client-centered design and production model
08:07–09:12 — How artisan collaboration shapes product quality and innovation
09:12–10:12 — The “visible hand”: how craftsmanship shows up in every detail
10:12–11:37 — Creating a gallery experience that connects product, space, and story
11:37–12:39 — Why authorship evolves through collaboration with designers
12:39–13:45 — How customization and client input drive new product ideas
13:45–15:04 — Where new collections begin: gaps, materials, and emotion
15:04–16:25 — Scaling a self-funded, made-to-order business
16:25–17:31 — Rethinking speed, timelines, and quality in production
17:31–18:23 — Why demand is shifting toward authenticity and craftsmanship
18:23–20:07 — The realities of running a craft-driven product business
20:07–21:08 — Craftsmanship as a business model, not just an aesthetic
[00:00:00] What happens when an industry built on speed and scale is forced to reconsider the value of craftsmanship?
Across architecture and design, production has become faster, more efficient, and more scalable, but expectations are shifting. Performance, quality, and differentiation are no longer just about output. They’re about how something is made and how it holds up over time.
This is the story of a brand that chose a different path. At Cuff Studio, Kristi Bender and Wendy Schwartz built a business around staying close to the work, not outsourcing it or accelerating it, but engaging directly with materials, makers, and the full lifecycle of what they create.
Their approach reframes craftsmanship not as nostalgia, but as a strategic decision that shapes how products perform and compete.
Welcome to Play With Matches, the podcast igniting bold ideas and redefining what’s possible in architecture and design. I’m your host, Tiffany Rafii, CEO of UpSpring, a strategic PR and marketing partner to brands across the built environment. Each episode I’ll interview the disruptors sparking change at the intersection of creativity and business.
Today we’re joined by Cuff Studio founders, Kristi Bender and Wendy Schwartz, to unpack how that decision plays out in practice and what it demands from the way you design, build, and grow a business.
Let’s start at the beginning of their story.
[00:01:05] It actually started in 2007. I was finishing up about six months living in Australia and was coming back to Los Angeles, pregnant with my second kid, and on the heels of finishing a business that I had started. I was going to be out of a job, and I came home inspired and motivated to turn my traditional Tudor home into something that was really inviting and layered and much more personal.
Initially I thought, yeah, let’s do this. And it was my husband who said, let’s hire a designer. I started interviewing different interior designers. I had seen the work of Wendy at a party that I had attended, and I knew I loved her work. We met, as you do, and she came over and I liked her. Of course she was talented, but she was also very curious. She was a great listener. I could tell she was really collaborative.
[00:02:12] And what I really liked was that she had this confidence. She was really self-assured, but she also just didn’t have that ego that I was afraid of. And I listened to my instincts and hired her.
We started the project in 2008. I started thinking, oh, I’m gonna learn a few things, I’m gonna have this amazing home that I’ve really wanted for so long, and it’s been 18 years of really learning and growing and starting this brand new business, being in a totally different industry.
There’s always been this synergy between Wendy and I. We have this strong work ethic, very aligned values. We’re both very hungry for creativity and for good work.
[00:02:57] It became quickly obvious to me that Kristi and I were a good partnership. She was driving the project in a project management sort of way, while also having a great creative sense and how she wanted to live.
You can create the most beautiful things in the world, but if you don’t have somebody that can get those ideas out, if you don’t have somebody that can make people aware of it, you just sit in a vacuum.
So anyway, I approached her, and it was not even halfway through the project that I said to her, if you ever wanna be business partners in interior design, let me know. I just had an instinct. She thought about it and she said yes, and we’ve been together ever since.
[00:03:40] Instinct is what brought Kristi and Wendy together, but instinct alone doesn’t build something enduring. It has to be put under pressure. What followed were years of doing exactly that, until they reached a moment where the work itself had to prove it could hold its own.
[00:04:00] We did interiors for a long time, all along the way creating custom pieces. In 2011, we had an opportunity to participate in the show house, Greystone Mansion, through Luxe Magazine.
[00:04:13] The best part about it is we were very small in the grand scheme of the other designers there, and in order to get to these other designers’ rooms, you had to go through our hallway. So it was just such an opportunity to really do something different and to be a little fearless.
And rather than sourcing—which we did, of course—but we really took that opportunity. Like, we’re gonna have the foot traffic, so let’s wow them. And so that’s when the collection really started.
[00:04:50] And we got a lot of attention, a lot of great attention for it. There’s pieces in that, I guess, first unveiling of Cuff that are still our top sellers: the Globes, the hand-roped globe cluster of lighting.
[00:05:07] Both of those spaces were filled with, for the most part, pieces that we custom-designed. We figured as long as we were gonna get attention, let’s get as much attention on us as possible. And after that, people were interested in certain pieces. People would ask us if they could order them. And it wasn’t until 2018 that we together decided, you know what, let’s create a collection. Let’s put it out into the world and see what happens.
[00:05:31] That early attention opened the door, but it didn’t dictate the direction. As Cuff Studio moved from one-off pieces to a broader offering, Kristi and Wendy had to decide what kind of business this would become and how close they wanted to stay to the process.
[00:05:49] We’ve always done things a little bit differently. Our home is here in Los Angeles. We were both raised in California, so it always made sense to us to keep things here: all of the manufacturing, our first gallery and showroom, on our home turf.
And to be very high touch, like with the clientele, with the artisans, learning, listening, asking questions was hugely important in being successful.
It was–we decided we wanna listen and talk to our clients and our customers. We wanna be in the workroom. We want, from the very beginning when somebody’s asking for information or a sample or a price, receiving their COM, to the end when that piece is not only being QC’d by us, but also being delivered to them.
It’s always been really important to Wendy and I to keep it small. But, you know, being personal, being available, being authentic—those are all things that we knew from the beginning.
[00:06:57] There are so many design firms now trying to get into the product business. And I think the fact that we’ve been at it for as long as we have, that we’re so involved in it, it helps us really understand what we wanna make and what is missing in the industry. And it just helps us have a better sense of what could be a successful product, because we’re so involved all along the way.
[00:07:27] We were in the trade, we were designers, we were working in people’s homes. So when we’re talking to now our client, who’s an interior designer, we understand where they’re coming from. We understand the pressures and the stress that they can sometimes be under. I think that has really informed how we do business, how we communicate, how we take care of each of our clients.
[00:07:53] Kristi and Wendy didn’t just stay close to the process. They structured the business around it, and that decision comes with consequences. It defines what gets made, who gets involved, and what’s allowed to move forward.
[00:08:07] For us, craftsmanship starts in the workroom. We have a longstanding manufacturing partnership with a workroom that has wonderful craftspeople. They have the ability to source beautiful materials of the highest quality that meet the highest standards. Beyond that, we’re always looking for craftspeople, all of whom I think are still in California, to provide certain elements that help us elevate our products to that next level—whether it’s a ceramics artist that we’re now working with, or a glass company that’s doing these cast-glass tabletops for us, or a glass artist here in Los Angeles that’s blowing our glass shades. It’s really working with other artists to help us elevate our product through craft. It’s so easy to knock people off, right? So for us, we’re always striving to source craft that is really, truly artisanal.
[00:09:12] We work with these artists from the very beginning. So when we’re prototyping a new lighting fixture or a new chair and ottoman, we’re working with them from the beginning until we feel like it’s ready to go to market. And because of this, we really have great relationships with everybody in the workroom. And we’re there two, three days a week. We bring donuts. We have jokes. I think because of that, you could really see the hand, you could see the love, you could see the thoughtfulness in all of our pieces. You’ll see a lot of chiseling in our work. You’ll see ripped parchment in our work. You’ll see the roping. And if you really get an opportunity to see our pieces in person, you can really see the visible hand, and I hope you could see just how proud we are of each piece.
We do have an LA gallery. It’s in Melrose Hill, a fun, up-and-coming neighborhood. That’s been really exciting to be there. We’re also, as of last year, in a shared showroom in New York. Designers often wanna bring their clients to sit, to do a sit test, to see the pieces that they’ve put in their projects.
[00:10:35] It does provide a designer who’s new to us, or a designer who’s worked with us many projects, the opportunity to sit down in a chair, feel its comfort, to see the hand, to see how pieces from Cuff Studio are so meticulously crafted and thoughtful. Sometimes people come looking for one piece—maybe the C-back chair—but then they’re drawn to the Facet console.
There’s the main gallery, and then if you go around the back, there’s what we call After Hours, which is the kind of dark and sexier showcase of Cuff Studio. And behind the curtains is where a lot of the magic happens. It’s where all the samples are. It’s the boxes, it’s the people working. They get a full sense not only of the product and how it’s crafted, but they get to see the collection and how things work really beautifully together.
[00:11:37] You really get a sense of what we’re talking about when we say Cuff Studio is meant to be layered with itself. Nothing feels static. And to see them layered in the space and still feel like it has a soul, to still feel like it feels evolved—that’s something that you can only really see and experience when you come visit us.
We make our furniture with a lot of love, and that love starts with how we conceive it, but it also spreads over to the appreciation we have for those who help us to create. And then it ends with the final piece, and before it goes off to its end user, how we inspect it and make sure it’s perfect. So for us, craft and love are intertwined.
[00:12:23] When you work this closely, authorship starts to shift. It creates a different kind of feedback loop where ideas don’t stay internal. For Kristi and Wendy, the work is shaped just as much by the designers using it as by the studio creating it.
[00:12:39] In the beginning, I was the one talking to the designers a lot. But what often transpires and still does is that a designer’s looking for something and they see a piece and they wanna customize it. And sometimes the customization request can be quite simple. But in a few situations, the designer has come to us with an idea, an iteration of a piece in the collection that worked. It’s amazing. It’s beautiful. It’s now part of our collection, and that was because we had that relationship.
[00:13:18] The Block Daybed is an exact example of what Kristi was talking about, where a really highly regarded designer came into our Los Angeles gallery, was looking at our Block Bench, and she said, I sure wish that we could do something like this as a daybed. And that sparked an idea. And I talked to Kristi about it and iterated on it, and that is how the Block Daybed was born.
[00:13:45] We always start from a place of yes. The trade community, the people we work with day in and day out, they have really great ideas and they have specific project needs. That’s one thing, I think, that was really helpful. If we had a sales rep in a showroom, maybe we wouldn’t have heard about that. They inspire us.
[00:14:03] You know, how we start can be different. Sometimes it’s a gap. Just recently, as part of our collection that we’re launching soon, I said to Kristi, you know what, we’re missing a lounge chair that’s smaller in scale, that’s slightly elevated from the ground. But it could also be a material. So we were really wanting to use cast molten glass. So that was the starting point for some of the pieces for Within.
[00:14:29] There was a collection during the pandemic that really started from the fact that we just were craving levity. And so that whole collection really came from this feeling, like, oh, we’re feeling this heaviness—how can we reflect a lightness and a playfulness in some new pieces?
[00:14:50] When ideas are coming from everywhere, the challenge starts to change. It’s not just about what to make next, but how to build a business that can keep up without breaking what made it work in the first place.
[00:15:04] By being scrappy, we’re able to be nimble. We are self-funded, so we really think strategically about all of our spends. We didn’t even start advertising on Instagram forever. I did the Instagram forever.
We had a lot of requests for, can you get this to me faster? We’re a made-to-order business, but sometimes designers are in a situation, and now they need it immediately. So, should we put some money back into the company and invest in inventory so that we have a small collection? We call it Cuff Core. It’s the expedited collection, and we can deliver pieces in a very timely manner, four to six weeks. So that if a designer wants a Cuff Core piece, they need to outfit a house in a real quick timeframe.
[00:15:56] Being small and scrappy, it is wonderful. We’ve been able to grow year over year. The growth is slow and steady, which is nice. And sometimes we, as partners, as ambitious women, we wanna get from one point to another, maybe a little bit faster. So you have to be really deliberate, and you can’t do all the things you wanna do at one time. But overall it’s been pretty amazing. We feel so proud of what we’ve built.
[00:16:25] Working this way, Kristi and Wendy start to see the trade-off differently. Not just speed versus quality, but expectation versus reality.
[00:16:35] A lot of these things that are not well crafted can still take a long time. With tariffs and with importing, and whether you’re buying from a Crate and Barrel or a West Elm or whatever, who do a lovely job of making things that sure look nice online, I don’t necessarily think that it’s always the fastest. While things from big-box stores look really beautiful in the photography, when you get them in person, sometimes they don’t look as great in person as they do online. Whereas, I would say, conversely, it’s the opposite for us. As beautiful as things look online, they’re even more beautiful in person. With the way things are with technology and AI, I think people are really grasping for things that feel authentic, that feel lasting, that feel human. I think people are craving more of that.
[00:17:31] That shift shows up in the conversation designers are having with clients and how those decisions actually get made.
[00:17:38] Even just over the last weekend, I saw emails come from designers, and the questions were, where are your pieces made? And are they sustainable? One designer was just going on and on about how she loved that it was all women and in California. So I think that there is a case to be made for companies like Cuff Studio. You know, it will take time. The pieces will endure. They will look very different than what you can buy in some of these more mass retailers. They’ll feel special. And if you have a story to tell, coupled with these pieces that are meticulously crafted and cared about—I don’t think it’s a hard case to make.
[00:18:23] There’s a growing appetite for this kind of work—more awareness, more demand, more expectation. That shift comes with pressure, because once you position yourself this way, there’s no room for shortcuts. The work has to deliver at every level, and the business behind it has to be just as disciplined.
[00:18:44] I think we hear it a lot—wouldn’t it be so nice just to have your own line? You must be so happy. It must be so easy. The truth is, it’s a really competitive market. There’s a lot of beautiful pieces. There’s a lot of talented makers. I think we’re lucky that we have pieces that have stood out, from those early Greystone Mansion days. And I, for sure, was putting the brakes on getting into manufacturing because I knew that this was not easy. There’s a whole other set of pressures and things that can go wrong. Guess what? You’re still working in a customer service industry.
There’s a definite pressure—things break in transit even. We do everything white glove, but there’s always kind of something. You really have to have a point of view. You have to be able to know your why. Why are you doing this? Why is this piece so important to you? You have to really know your story and evolve your story to stand out. And we’re lucky. I think that it’s a big assumption that this is easy, in terms of just running a business and then actually being successful. It’s very rewarding, but it is not easy.
[00:20:07] What Kristi and Wendy show is that craftsmanship is not just about how something looks—it’s about how a business is built. Staying close to the work means taking responsibility for every part of it: the materials, the process, the timeline, the outcome. It requires decisions that don’t always prioritize speed and systems that can support a higher level of involvement. And that is where the tension is, because the industry is designed to balance a range of demands—scale, efficiency, consistency, and access.
But as expectations shift, so does the definition of value. What matters is no longer just how quickly something can be produced, but how well it performs and how clearly it holds up over time. So the question isn’t whether craftsmanship matters, it’s how it shows up within the models we’re already operating in—where it becomes a priority, where it creates distinction, and where it has the potential to elevate what we’re already building.
That’s not a single path, but it is a higher standard—one that asks more of the work and of the decisions behind it. And for those willing to engage with it, it opens up a different way to compete.
If these conversations have challenged your thinking or sparked new ideas, we’d appreciate you taking a moment to follow, subscribe, and leave a review. It helps more listeners find the show and brings more of these voices into the conversation. And as we look ahead to what’s next, we’re always looking to feature leaders who are pushing the industry forward.
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To hear more conversations like this one, follow Play With Matches wherever you get your podcasts. You can find show notes and full transcripts at weareupspring.com.
Play With Matches is part of the SURROUND Podcast Network.
This show is produced by UpSpring, an award-winning, strategic PR and marketing partner. With more than 17 years of experience supporting architecture firms, design practices, and product manufacturers shaping the built environment.
A huge thank you to our guests, to our audio editing team at Make A Scene Productions, and to the UpSpringers who helped make this episode possible: Brittany Lloyd, Eleanor Ling, and Marcus McDermott.
Thanks so much for listening. Until next time.
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