Furniture Village Burgess Beds

Furniture Village
The first destination on our tour was the Furniture Village store in Manchester, just around the corner from
Old Trafford, Manchester United’s stadium.
This visit was focused on the sales and retail aspects of the furniture industry and I learnt many new things.
Hosting us was Julian Carter-Jones, the company’s Group Sales and Development coach. He gave us a brief
history of the brand, explained how they operate and how they target their audience.
They position themselves as a mid-high level furniture retailer and part of their strategy is to sell only
furniture but to have various ranges targeted at different markets. So you have everything from reproduction
Elizabethan oak furniture all the way through to contemporary marble and plastic furniture, via classic
ranges from the likes of Ercol, with a large presence of both Art Deco and mid-century inspired designs.
Julian explained that the furniture industry is heavily reliant on current trends and that at the moment we are
seeing 1950’s style furniture being popular. Despite this he mentioned that certain classic styles, such as
Art-Deco and a lot of Ercol’s range never really go out of fashion.
We were also educated on timber, Furniture Village sell furniture manufactured in Europe and also from the
Far East. Apparently the climate in the Far East is not suitable for air-drying of timber, the timber over there
has to be kiln-dried. Although quicker, it produces boards and planks more susceptible to movement, which
can be troublesome once the timber has been made into furniture, for example, joints not lining up and
sliding mechanisms not working.
To sell furniture, Julian explained that it is important to give a piece ‘personality’ and to learn about the
customer and how it can meet their particular set of circumstances. The store is also laid out in such a way to
make it easy for the customer to visualize the furniture in a home setting. So each item is given space and
arranged in a room-like situation.
Burgess Beds
Our next visit was to Burgess Beds, they are a small family-run company who have been hand making
mattresses and beds since 1927. It was a nice complement to the large scale operation of Furniture Village.
The company have a small premises and design, manufacture and retail their products on site and in house.
They produce both standard ranges and also offer a bespoke service, which accounts for 30% of their
business. Their beds and mattresses are also sold via other companies across the country, such as Heals,
Terence Conran and other small independent retailers.
It was fascinating to see the mattresses being made and to see all the component parts coming together. They
have a mini ‘production line’ system, so one person will stitch the seams, whilst another will tuft the
mattress etc. Their was a nice ‘family’ atmosphere in the factory and this seemed genuine, with some
employees having worked there for nearly 40 years!
Knightsbridge Furniture
Our third visit was to Knightsbridge Furniture, who base their operation in a 150 year old ex wool combing
mill in Bradford. Originally they produced furniture for the retail market, but have switched their focus to
the contract market (ships, hospitals, universities, prisons etc.).
They are a medium sized company and it was interesting to see how they do everything themselves, from
the design phase, to all the manufacturing processes. All of the machining and assembly is also done inhouse. Seasoned timber enters the factory, furniture comes out.
We were introduced to the company by Jason Brown, a senior designer. I was pleasantly surprised to find
that he is passionate and very knowledgeable about art and design in both a contemporary and historical
context. The tour took in all the different areas of the factory, with each area specialising in a particular
process. We saw the timber processing workshop, and the various areas for assembly, upholstery and
finishing. The furniture is almost all solid wood and is ‘properly’ made, with real joints and construction
methods.
It was also interesting to learn how they have to account for the end users of their products in sometimes
unexpected ways, it may be obvious that the furniture for nursing homes and hospitals needs to be wipe
clean and non absorbent, but I would never have guessed that the furniture for psychiatric homes has to have
steel weights hidden inside to weigh it down to stop the furniture being thrown around.
We also learned about how the company works with external designers. This was especially interesting to
me and it was very valuable finding out how work needs to be presented in a real-life context and what sort
of payment to expect.
CD (UK) Ltd
Corian is a mix of ‘high-performing acrylic polymers and alumina trihydrate (ATH) from bauxite ore’.
Despite having had a presentation on it and watched videos about Corian, I’m still not entirely sure what
this means or how it is made. This, I imagine, is a closely guarded secret now that several other producers of
solid surface materials exist.
When held, Corian feels like a strong dense plastic and is much heavier than acrylic. It comes in sheets of
varying thickness, is smooth to the touch but non-slip even when wet, and heat resistant up to 100°c. It is
also non-porous and repels chemicals, staining liquids and bacteria. In the 1960s, it was called a ‘space age
material’ and seemed perfectly suited to domestic kitchen and bathroom applications due to its anti-bacterial
qualities. Now, it is widely used in flooring, cladding, wireless charging for electronic devices and lighting
in all kinds of places from hotels and restaurants to outdoor public spaces and transport.
70% of Corian sold is white but there are over a hundred colours available with dozens of glue colours to
match. Intricate textures and patterns can be routed and laser cut and then heat moulded into curves or any
desired shape.
Gary Baker at CD (UK), the only Corian distributors in Britain, showed off what a malleable material it is.
As student designers, this was particularly useful and interesting to see what others have done with it in
various forms. These included folding, etching and perforating and pulling threads through the Corian itself
as if fabric. More conventional working includes joining almost invisibly, sanding and vacuum forming.
Vitafoam
A maker of vita cellular foams and manufacturer for several furniture companies like Knightsbridge and
Knowle. Polyurethane foams are created by chemical reactions of isocyanate, polyol and water to make
bubbles. Foam densities can be altered by injecting different amounts of water into the process. More water
= more reactions and results in a softer, more aerated foam. The liquid foam blocks get incredibly hot at the
centre where temperatures can reach 180°c. This is why there is often some discolouration and the lighter
coloured foams appear a little scorched. Although we didn’t see foam being produced, there was plenty of
variety of material at different stages of production throughout the factory.
Rotary slitter cuts blocks into horizontal slices and CNC machines cut out repeat shapes
Foams are tested for quality and consistency in terms of thickness, hardness and fire retardancy. Vitafoam
aim to have zero wastage and recycle their scraps and offcuts by steam heating ‘crumbs’ (shredded foam)
together into reconstituted foam blocks. These are heavier and denser which makes them more suitable for
carpet underlay and gym mats.
Kits are put together for individual models of chair, sofa etc. to be assembled elsewhere at factories like
Knowle. This is an interesting innovation and removes another stage in manufacturing altogether and keeps
the costs down. From a designer’s point of view, it is helpful to know that this has been taken into account
and that if modifications are to be made, the foam makers need to be consulted as well as the furniture
makers.
Axminster/Festool
Ending the tour in Warrington at the Axminster store was a chance to see hand and power tools in action.
Without doubt, the multi-purpose machines by Festool were very sexy and promoted as easy-to-use laboursaving devices that quickly paid for themselves in terms of time spent and quality of finish. Although these
advantages aren’t really relevant yet to college students and undergraduates, I think we would all love to get
hold of at least one of the tools shown to us. It certainly won’t be long before we start saving up.
The expert demonstrators were also well informed and happy to answer students’ questions. Unfortunately,
we didn’t take any photos in the shop or of the demos. However, this one taken on the coach returning south
does show a few new Festool fans.