Eight young professionals – all earmarked as future leaders – have just completed a unique three-week tour of businesses operating in the UK furniture and furnishing industry, facilitated by The Furniture Makers’ Company, the City of London livery company and charity for the furnishing industry.
Relaunched in 2024 after a five-year hiatus, the Young Professionals Industry Experience (YPIE) is one of the charity’s educational initiatives that gives a small group of handpicked professionals a comprehensive overview of businesses representing all sectors of the wider industry.
The participants were: Ellie Amodio, senior marketing executive, Sleepeezee; Claire Anderson, assistant production manager, George Smith; Jess Blake, social media manager, Saxon Furniture; Lydia Burrows, head of brand experience, HSL Chairs; Gabriella Charlton-Little, account manager, Colebrook Bosson Saunders; Jordan Hargadon, new product development team leader, Silentnight; Tab van der Lande, furniture designer/maker at Sebastian Cox; and Thomas O’Neill, senior design and projects engineer, Race Furniture.
The group spent three weeks across June and July travelling around the UK visiting 20 companies to learn about the furniture supply chain, including raw materials and components, manufacturing, pricing, marketing, merchandising and intellectual property.
The companies the group visited were:
- Anti Copying in Design
- Axminster Tools
- Blum UK
- Colebrook Bosson Saunders
- Designer Contracts
- Ercol
- Ergochair
- Frogmore Conservation Workshop, part of the Royal Household
- G Plan
- Halstock Cabinet Makers
- John Makepeace OBE
- MillerKnoll
- Ocee & Four
- Panaz
- SATRA
- Silentnight
- Simon Thomas Pirie Furniture
- Shackletons
- Sylva Foundation
- Vita, Prima Foam
- William Hands
Pictured: Claire Anderson, Gabriella Charlton-Little, Thomas O’Neil, Brian Ahern, Master; Lydia Burrows and Tab van der Lande
