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Meet Lynn Riveland

I was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and grew up part time on a farm near New Effington, South Dakota. During the school year I lived in several towns in the state of Minnesota and assisted my father with the field work. This is where I developed my work ethic.

I entered college as an art major where I learned how to observe and pay attention to detail. I also developed the skills of working with leather and fabrics and learned to visualize how shapes and forms work together. By the end of my sophomore year I had decided to become an Industrial Arts teacher.

It was during my junior year that I was introduced to the art and craft of upholstery and where I discovered that I had a gift for it. The ease with which I completed my projects inspired the instructor to tell me about a call he had received from a person who was looking for someone to assist him part time. The job that resulted lasted through my junior year and gave me financial independence from my parents. In 1974, I graduated from college as an Industrial Arts teacher.

The summer following graduation I went to help on the farm where, with a little help from one of the neighbors, I met my wife. We were married in the Spring of 1975.

I taught Industrial Arts for six years before deciding to change professions. In June of 1982, I started a business in furniture and custom auto upholstery. I did this for four years.

I was then presented with an opportunity to do a special project for a local company. I was told this project had my name on it and they asked if I would consider doing it. I was surprised to find that it did match my skills and I agreed to take the project on. It took me fifteen months to complete the project.

Part of the project involved conducting various tests on products produced by the company. It was here where I further developed the skills of thinking through design procedures and also where I learned how to transform three dimensional objects into flat patterns and then reproduce them in fabric and other materials. During the last several months of this project I became involved in reupholstering aircraft at the local airport. I found that I enjoyed working with aircraft.

A salesman that worked with me at this company owned a Mooney. He had the maintenance on his airplane done at Willmar Air Service. He learned from Bruce Jaeger of Willmar Air Service that the person who had been doing their upholstery work had left. The salesman told Bruce that he knew someone that did excellent work and gave him my name. Bruce and I met and discussed this opportunity. I was asked to reupholster a set of seats for a Mooney 201 and soon I was doing aircraft interiors full time.

Since May of 1988, I've had the privilege of working with everyone associated with Willmar Air Service. Recently I have also had the privilege of working with Business Aviation in Sioux Falls SD while assisting in air ambulance conversions. Some of the airplanes converted have been Cessna 421's, Cessna Citations, Lear 34's, and King Air 90's and 200's. I also worked on portions of the interior of a Falcon 10.

Over the years I have honed the many skills required to construct top quality custom interiors for aircraft. I have applied the knowledge I have learned and pay particular attention to detail when meeting the needs of my customers.

In 1997 my family suffered a severe loss with the flood of the Red River of the north. Our home was flooded and we lost many of our belongings. In order to help recover form our losses it was necessary for me to spend even more time working in Willmar and away from my home in Breckinridge MN. This was difficult on my family as well as myself. The winter of 1999 was the first time that I was able to spend any length of time at home since the flood.

When I first started in this business in 1988 I received some advice from Todd Owen of The Upholstery Shop. He told me that whatever I do, to make sure that I do top quality work. He said that if I did, people would notice and business would come my way. Thirteen years and countless interiors later I have found his statement to be true. I am proud of each and every airplane for which I have created an interior, and am thankful to all my former customers that have referred their friends to me.

Who is that great looking couple to the left, you ask? That's my wife Deb and I on our 25th wedding anniversary in March of 2000.