Q&A SYCAMORE 25TH ANNIVERSARY Angela James Sycamore – 25 years in the making
Sycamore is celebrating its 25th year. Matt Broughton spoke to Natalie Paley, Sales and Marketing Director and Angela James, Marketing Manager about this mighty landmark.
Natalie Paley
Matt: It’s the company’s 25th anniversary. How long have you yourself been there and what changes have you seen in your time? Angela: I started working at Sycamore in 2005, initially as a warehouse operative. Over the years as the business grew, I moved into the sales office, and then onto the position of marketing manager in 2010. The product range is dramatically different. In 2005 the majority of the products we sold were halogen and fluorescent, as the technology just wasn’t available at the time.
We supplied these products to small kitchen outlets throughout the UK, and all our products were originally sold within the UK. Later that same year, Sycamore relocated to larger premises in Leeds following rapid growth and securing larger customers. We also began to source products from Italy and Germany. LED Lighting was introduced into our range in this year, by means of a small cabinet light, making Sycamore the first to offer LED lighting within the UK.
Over the next few years, the business continued to grow, and we started to source our products via the far east, initially through agents. We then built-up relationships with our own suppliers in the far east, many of which we still do business with to this day.
As the business continued to be successful, we invested heavily in a testing laboratory and technical design centre. New state of the art testing machinery enabled us to be the first company of our size to offer accurate and reliable test data for all our products in-house. We also
upgraded our showroom to show our new and innovative lighting solutions for the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom.
In 2014 new qualified personnel were brought in to oversee the technical and design department. We then had the capability to offer lighting advice for projects of any size. 2017 saw us working towards a 100% LED range, along with embracing new technologies such as smart lighting and controls.
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We still have many of the same team members with us today as we did in the beginning, which is great for us.
2020 was the year we initially launched our initial collection of LED Mirrors and Bathroom Lighting. The interest in adding lighting to bathroom designs grew in popularity among our customers, so due to this high demand, we expanded our bathroom lighting offering to include a new collection of Tunable White LED Mirrors and Cabinets.
Tunable White enables users to change the colour of the LED from warm white, to natural white, and to cool white, to suit individual preference or décor, using touch buttons on the mirror. The illumination can also be dimmed to create a relaxing ambience while bathing. Some models also include Bluetooth speakers, shaver sockets and USB charging ports.
6 BKU NOVEMBER 2023
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