User:sunloungerFrog/Ercol
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ercol is a British furniture manufacturer.
History
[edit]Beginnings
[edit]Lucian Ercolani, affectionately known as "The Old Man" within the company, trained as a furniture designer at Shoreditch Technical Institute, making his first piece of furniture in 1907. His company was established in 1920 in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, as Furniture Industries by Lucian Ercolani (1888–1976). The company derives its name from his surname.
World War 2
[edit]In 1944, ercol was contracted by the government's Board of Trade to produce 100,000 low-cost Windsor chairs under the Utility Furniture Scheme.[1] Windsor chairs were constructed with a bentwood frame and an arched back supporting delicate spindles, using the steam bending of English elm – a wood previously thought impossible to bend because it distorts.[citation needed] This innovation allowed the chair to be assembled from 14 pre-formed components, and mechanization meant that a chair could be made every 20 seconds.[citation needed]
Post-war
[edit]In 1946, ercol exhibited its bentwood furniture at the "Britain Can Make It" exhibition, held at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. In 1947, the first production-line Windsor chair, and other pieces from the range of Windsor furniture, went on sale. ercol's mass-produced furniture found a good market in post-war Britain, which demanded smaller pieces with simpler lines than their chunky pre-war counterparts. ercol furniture was exhibited at the 1951 Festival of Britain, as it represented one of the latest styles in furniture design and manufacture.[citation needed]
21st Century
[edit]
In 2002, ercol moved to a new purpose-built facility in Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire, where it produces furniture made from North American elm and European ash, beech, oak and walnut from naturally regenerative forests. The building's heat and hot water is provided from wood waste, whilst the company does not use solvent-based stains and lacquers, instead using the more environmentally friendly water-based versions.[citation needed] The company sources fabrics from mills in Italy and Belgium, offering a choice of over 100 different options for its upholstery. Because ercol's upholstery is designed with solid wood frames, it is generally feasible to replace worn-out cushions and other components, prolonging the life of the products. ercol offers a reCover service to supply replacement cushions.[citation needed]
ercol's ranges of upholstery, dining, cabinet and occasional furniture are on sale through a network of retailers in the UK, Europe, Japan and Korea and directly to other territories, whilst a range of ex-display and factory seconds are available from its factory outlet in Princes Risborough. ercol's Gina recliner was the first piece of domestic furniture to be awarded the Ergonomics Excellence award by FIRA, the UK furniture industry's independent furniture test house. In 2008 ercol launched two-bedroom ranges – Savona and Paladina – marking their return to the bedroom market.
Awards
[edit]- When? Manufacturing Guildmark by the Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers in recognition of its commitment to design and to quality of manufacture.
- Autumn 2009: ercol's Treviso range was shortlisted for the annual Wood Awards
- 2010: ercol was awarded two Design Guild Marks by the Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers out of the twenty issued that year.
(fluff) The Design Guild Mark is issued by the Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers – the industry's guild. The guild mark is awarded "for excellence in the design of furniture. It marks and rewards the work of the finest designers working in Britain." The first award was in recognition of the designs of the company's founder, Lucian Ercolani, embodied in the Originals range. The Originals are a small collection of pieces reissued from ercol's back catalogue. The Originals collection reflected a break from the heavy, ornate pre-war styles towards a new clean lined, simple elegance. They were first launched in the late 1950s.
Other fluff
[edit]As well as its presence in UK retailers' stores, and its own showroom at its Princes Risborough facility, ercol attends a number of trade and consumer exhibitions and holds a number of events at its showroom. In 2009 ercol exhibited at the design show Trent London which is open to the public, and in January 2010, at the national trade show at the NEC, Birmingham Interiors Birmingham.
ercol partnered design magazine Wallpaper for one of the major installations at the 2009 London Design Festival – a modern interpretation of the Chair Arch, given pride of place in the Central Courtyard of the V&A Museum in September 2009. In Victorian times, towns would mark a particularly special occasion, such as the visit of a VIP, with an arch adorned with the town's main commodity. The arch would then form the center of festivities. In 1877, High Wycombe, famous for its chair manufacturing, built a chair arch for the visit of Queen Victoria to Disraeli at his home, Hughenden Manor. The idea originated with the town council, who deputized it to one of their members, Walter Skull, to organize through the Chair Manufacturers' Association. Just over fifty years later, his company, Walter Skull & Son, would become part of ercol. Later arches were erected for the visit of Queen Elizabeth II in 1962 and for the Millennium. The ercol-Wallpaper arch is dramatically different. Designed by Martino Gamper, it comprises two overlapping spans, all of the same chair – ercol's stacking chair. After showing at the V&A it moved in 2010 to the V&A Museum of Childhood as part of their "Sit Down!" exhibition of children's seating through the years.
ercol participated in The Dock as part of the London Design Festival. Curated by designer Tom Dixon, situated at the Portobello Dock, the exhibition was over 45,000 sq ft (4,200 m2), spanning the Grand Union Canal.
Affliates
[edit]Aside from the ercol brand itself, there is also the eponymous L.Ercolani brand, which makes its trade in premium pieces designed by top-notch design houses all over the world. Also under the umbrella is ercol Contract, which deals with large-scale furniture needs like hospitality, dining, office spaces, among other industries with similar needs.
Grown in Britain Programme
[edit]In May 2023, Grown in Britain; an organization dedicated to safekeeping British forests, partnered with ercol to launch their line of partnership furniture together. The first piece to launch was the iconic Marino chair and Pebble nest, at the floor of the Clerkenwell Design Week event. It paired British ash and recycled wool fabric upholstery. The line was made available for general purchase on September 1st that same year.[2]
Other refs[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]
References
[edit]- ^ "ercol and the Board of Trade". ercol timeline. ercol corporate website. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
- ^ "Ercol launch iconic Marino chair in GiB certified ash". Grown In Britain. 23 May 2023. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
- ^ "Ercol comes to London with new branded store". Furniture News. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
- ^ "Ercol". British Furniture Manufacturers. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
- ^ "hcl architects - Ercol Furniture Factory". www.hcla.co.uk. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
- ^ "Uncovering The Fascinating History Of Ercol Furniture". Ward Brothers Furniture. 21 November 2023. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
- ^ "Ercol Furniture: Still Loved Today | Retrovintage Blog". retrovintage. 20 October 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
- ^ "Thoroughly mid-century modern: 100 years of Ercol furniture". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 26 March 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
- ^ Hashish, Amira (28 August 2015). "Made in Britain: the design story of ercol". The Standard. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
- ^ Beautyman, Mairi (15 May 2020). "Legacy Furniture Brand Ercol Is Weathering the Pandemic Just Fine". Architectural Digest. Archived from the original on 4 November 2024. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
- ^ Jackson, Lesley (2020). Ercol: Furniture in the Making. Richard Dennis Publications. ISBN 978-0-9572095-3-4. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
- ^ Woodham, Jonathan (19 May 2016). A Dictionary of Modern Design. Oxford University Press. pp. 233–234. ISBN 978-0-19-251853-8.
- ^ "Ercolani, Lucian Randolph (1888-1976) | BIFMO". bifmo.furniturehistorysociety.org. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
Sources
[edit]- Ercolani, Lucian R. (1975). A furniture maker: his life, his work and his observations. London: Benn. ISBN 9780510000110.