Left Ercol’s Ibstone Universal cabinet designed for placing in hallways, here in black
REPORTER 029
alongside, what I hope will be, our new modern iconic designs. There’s a harmony in the design aesthetic as our newer designs are designed in response to the design language of the Ercol classics: we look back to move forwards. The vision of the brand is firmly rooted in a century of design tradition, the key parameters of the designs are form and function and a warm yet minimalist aesthetic. The soft yet functional qualities of our designs can be used from the home to the ofice to the restaurant. Everything in the brand is made of solid wood in our Buckinghamshire factory.
What’s next for the business? Is there a direction you want to steer it towards? Markets to enter? Products to launch? New collaborations? Training opportunities? We’ve been on quite a journey over the last few years.
L.Ercolani was established, and the product developed. Ercol underwent a huge change in how we sell and developed a new graphic and in-store look and is constantly moving forward. Ercol is now starting the journey to establishing a route to use UK sourced timber. Working with ‘Grown in Britain’ (GiB) we will be launching pieces made from British timber in 2023. For
L.Ercolani we are consolidating all our changes and focusing hard on the expansion of the brand in the UK market, working further in contract and interior design markets, and further building the retail network here. A lot of this work will go into our digital offering and how we interact with our customers to provide a seamless experience with us online. Internationally, L. Ercolani will continue to grow its US market and looking at opportunities in various Asian markets. After establishing what our design language is and the collections over the last few years, we do hope to have new collections and products to launch from 2024 onwards.
year working my way around the departments – machining, assembling, finishing, inspecting, prototyping and anything else I could learn about. I then moved into the ofice, and I took on the role of the area sales manager for south west, an area of 50 retailers that ranged from Haverfordwest to Reading and St Austell to Birmingham. I was out on the road, constantly driving and constantly learning. My final initial sales training involved me working for Vi-Spring, where I shadowed the team in Plymouth and their European team in Leuven for 10 months. After this broad introduction to Ercol and the international markets I moved into my role as European sales manager focusing on exporting to the high-end retail and trade markets in Northern Europe, which grew into international sales manager as we started building our US and ROW business. Over the years the team grew, and I took on the role of international sales director and became part of the Ercol board.
At this time I was looking to the future and did an alternative MBA, the program for leadership development, at Harvard Business School, alongside various other courses in the UK.
Just before Covid struck, we had reviewed our brand and range structure and decided that we needed to sub-brand our higher end design collection. This became
L.Ercolani. I was appointed the brand director of
L.Ercolani alongside the sales role and was responsible for all the creative development and brand identity. In July 2022, my father decided to step back from his role of chairman and I took over the role.
Can you tell me more about
L.Ercolani. What is it and why was it launched?
L.Ercolani is the new sister brand of Ercol. It is named after our founder Lucian Ercolani and is our elevated design brand. It contains all the iconic designs that Lucian created in the 1950s
What factors to you think make Ercol unique/ successful? Why do you/customers love it? In the UK, I feel we are a unique company in many ways. I do not know of another brand based here that has its own production on our scale that makes solid wood furniture for the home and contract markets. We are a fourth- generation family-run business which has over 100 years of history and heritage. Our mid- century designs are pieces that we developed and made for everyone in the 1950s. They’ve come in and out of production over the decades but are our core DNA. We have an amazing capacity to marry high-tech machining alongside centuries old hand craft techniques. We use methods like steam bending, wedge and tenon joinery and dovetail joints, that are rare in furniture construction today. Our machining capability mean that we can spend time on these hand-crafted details, and by doing this we can make legacy furniture, and by that I mean pieces that generations will be able to use and enjoy. I think our customers understand this and it’s the main reason why there is such a love for Ercol. We’re generational in many ways and, ultimately, we are authentic. I think that resonates with most people, especially today.
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