Celebrating a Great British Success Story
We’ve been thinking a lot recently about how we should all celebrate success more and then a great opportunity to do just that came our way! It’s probably fair to say that furniture manufacturing for business is probably seen as a niche sector despite the fact that every premises and many home offices use these products each and every day. Mention that you are going to Clerkenwell for a day of showroom tours and you could be met with a sea of blank faces – hence the need for next month’s Clerkenwell Design Week of course!
But another aspect that’s often missed is the phenomenal manufacturing base for the UK office furniture sector in the North West. Founded upon the area’s long-standing industrial heritage, some of the most innovative, design-led businesses that you will ever encounter are located right here and we were lucky enough to visit the Gresham Office Furniture factory in Bolton just last week.
Firstly, we need to thank Richard Tustin, London Area Manager, and Dave Openshaw, Head of Production, for looking after us; what we learned was so insightful. Probably a key thing that’s always worth repeating is that office furniture is about so much more than it appears: it’s about welcoming the WFH crowd back to the building, hitting sustainability targets, meeting Health and Safety criteria and of course creating fabulous workspaces. What’s often missed in this is the importance of design details, which is better appreciated when you view the manufacturing process up close and gain an understanding of the creative approach.
During our tour we saw so many inspirational products, from privacy pods to soft seating and of course many chairs and desks – we’d say “traditional desks and chairs” but of course these were anything but traditional, with each product having a core design and functional requirement built in.
Gresham has innovation at its core and so Ellie and Marine from our Projects team were grateful to learn, not just about the impressive production facilities, but to see the bespoke area where clients specify exactly what they want and Gresham brings that desire to life in the form of a unique piece of furniture. And all built here in the UK!
Great business processes come out of closer working relationships and for us, seeing such a great British success story and gaining a greater understanding of the processes involved in the production of a “simple” office chair gave us renewed enthusiasm for how we plan workspace projects for our clients.
Thanks again, Richard and Dave!
