Living / 64 Trade services

HOME RUN

Named Best Home Office Furniture Supplier in Furniture News’ Readers Choice Awards 2021, Core Products has taken significant strides in the past year to develop interesting and innovative products aimed specifically to meet the growing demand for working at home.

www.coreproducts.co.uk

Aspen

“It is greatly appreciated by all at Core to be honoured with this award by your readers and our customers,” says CEO Mike Rowley. “As few of us are fortunate enough to have dedicated office space at home, most households are having to adapt space accordingly. This has created a series of interesting challenges when designing our new ranges, as everyone has different needs and available space.

“When defining the new ranges, we work towards products that would either create a space to study from or a more defined space to work from, which at the end of the working day would not look out of place in the home. Using stylish finishes which incorporate wood, stone and composite effects was also a key ingredient, and made it easy to clean and maintain.

“With this in mind, Core have developed five distinctive collections of furniture, to make working from home easy and effortless.

“Foremost is the Loft collection of home office chairs, which encompasses a variety of designs, sizes and colours – from comfortable study chairs which are great for occasional use, through to home office chairs with structured backs and contoured seats which offer more day-to-day support while you work.

“Hard-wearing fabrics and breathable mesh in traditional or contemporary colourways ensure these chairs look at home in any living space.

“Core Products’ range of workingfrom-home furniture goes way beyond this, with matching bookcases and wall shelving. Simple standalone desks from our Loft range are ideal for occasional use in a bedroom or hallway. Combination bookshelf desks from our Harvard range provide efficient use of space as feature pieces, and are independent in their design, in a striking combination of easy-to-clean washed oak and carbon-grey oak melamine finishes.

“Desks are also becoming a common feature in many downstairs areas, and with this in mind we have had added home office to four of our modern living collections, allowing a seamless transition between working and living space. The Dallas home office collection is a combination of crisp white and carbon-grey oak effect, which coordinates with a full range of occasional pieces – whilst an alternative look can be created with our Brooklyn range, which combines metal with a bleached pine effect.

“So, if you want to make your customers’ home-working space comfortable and functional – and of course attractive, for their next video conference – then look no further than Core’s award-winning home office collections”

Dallas

Harvard

FOR ANY OCCASION

The last 18 months have presented some of the greatest challenges Julian Bowen’s team has known, but the business has risen to the challenge and worked tirelessly throughout this period to develop new products across every home furniture category …

www.julian-bowen.co.uk

Classic dining has been a particular area of focus, and has seen the launch of several discrete new ranges alongside additions to established bestsellers. A great deal of attention has been paid to supply chain management to mitigate the ongoing industry-wide dislocations, and Julian Bowen is consequently “very well stocked” across these key ranges.

The Richmond dining and occasional collection is an established bestselling range that sits alongside its sister Richmond Bedroom collection – a timeless, elegant design, suitable for a wide range of interiors. Crafted from white oak and oak veneers, this bedroom range brings a modern twist to a traditional style, with a two-tone painted finish in a smooth, elephant-grey lacquer.

The Richmond occasional collection comprises an extensive range including a lamp table, nest of tables, TV unit, coffee table with two drawers, sideboard, tall bookcase, and a flip-top dining table which offers a clever extendable design, enabling a well-proportioned square dining table to double in size by flipping the tabletop over.

The Astoria dining and occasional collection is a “timeless classic design” that continues to sell very well for the business. Crafted from solid oak and oak veneers, Astoria highlights the natural beauty and depth of the wood through the grain. When allied with subtle styling and clean lines, including soft edges, the overall effect is one of classic design, traditional style, and contemporary charm.

The Astoria occasional collection comprises an extensive range including

Richmond table nest

a lamp table, nest of tables, TV unit, coffee table with two drawers, sideboard, tall bookcase, glazed display cabinet and flip-top dining table.

Julian Bowen also recently launched the Provence and Cotswold dining collections. Cotswold, launched last year, is crafted from American white oak, with a finely lacquered finish highlighting wood’s natural beauty – while the option of the new Loire buttonback dining chair, in a luxurious oatmeal linen, adds a real sense of traditional style and comfort to the ensemble.

Provence which has been created as a “timeless antique design”, featuring a dining table with a refined traditional turned leg, in a subtle, grey-painted twotone finish, with an attractive limed oakfinished top which brings an element of classic design that co-ordinates equally well in contemporary settings.

All of these new options are now in stock, with images, descriptions and further details available on Julian Bowen’s website

Richmond Dining - In Stock Now

Astoria Dining - In Stock Now

COMFORT ZONE

How can science increase human comfort? It’s a question that drives Dow Polyurethanes’ ComfortScience division to ever-greater lengths in its search for innovative, intuitive and sustainable solutions for the furniture industry, explains strategic marketing manager, Ricco Borella …

www.comfortscience.com

Ricco Borella

Can you outline Dow’s work in the furniture sector? At Dow, we have a long history of applying science to create materials that deliver the most comfortable experience possible. Our solutions for the furniture sector help people to achieve their ideal levels of comfort, and we do that by combining our knowledge of material science with an understanding of how human beings think, feel, sense, and behave. We call this ComfortScience.

In the past three years we have been collaborating with multiple companies across value chains to understand and improve comfort products like chairs, sofas, and sleep products. To do just that, we have expanded our laboratories with mattress and pillow prototyping capabilities. Here, we can adopt an integrated approach, from developing new foams, designing mattresses and pillows, to producing them at scale, and evaluating their performance – all in one location, all integrated.

Smart technologies and devices can help track, visualise and quantify how people sleep

How do your customers utilise your solutions? We believe in the value of partnerships, and with this approach we aim to bring to market solutions that have the potential to change the world of comfort as we know it. For example, through our RENUVA Mattress Recycling Program, we are recycling polyurethane foam from end-of-life mattresses and turning it into RENUVA polyols for use in new mattresses and other applications (see May 2021’s Furniture News for details).

One of our partners making this possible is The Vita Group, one of Europe’s leading flexible polyurethane foam solutions providers, who is now using RENUVA recycled polyols to produce new, high-quality foams.

What are your key products? To answer the needs of the furniture market, we offer a broad range of raw materials that enable a diversity of foam types. From technologies that meet regulatory requirements in terms of emissions, odour, and durability – all while maximising operational efficiency – to sustainable and circular solutions.

We incorporate these properties into our products: ComfortScience TRUE Relieve, a pillow that accommodates the natural curves of the head and neck to lower pressure at pain points; ComfortScience COOL Breathable, a pillow made of a special material that increases the flow of air and lets heat and humidity escape; and our most recent, ComfortScience CLEAN Washable, a pillow that can be washed at 60° C, can withstand spinning and dries quickly, offering peace of mind to allergy sufferers, busy parents and, indeed, to all of us in pandemic times.

How do your latest developments address growing consumer interest in sleep and wellness? We spend one third of our lives sleeping. Like nutritious food and regular exercise, it’s a vital factor in creating a balanced lifestyle, and the key to achieving overall mental and physical wellbeing – but it’s often overlooked in discussions about wellness.

In the past, sleep was a black box

that could not be quantified or easily measured. The growth in sleep science has created smart technologies and devices that help us track, visualise and quantify when and how we are resting, so that we can do so more comfortably.

Increased insights into how we experience sleep and comfort have also enabled improvements in sleep aids and the materials we sleep on. At Dow, we’ve been on a journey to improve the way we experience comfort, by combining our material science expertise with a keen understanding of how humans think, feel and sense comfort. We use science to innovate solutions that respond to our individual notions of comfort, and put it front and centre in the discourse about our wellbeing.

How can science deliver better sleep? As with all scientific work, we observe and test. This is how we’ve identified three dimensions of comfort, each of them created by several parameters working together (see diagram). By understanding what they are and how to quantify them, we’re better equipped to deliver comfort – and comfort leads to better sleep.

These three dimensions of comfort start with Ergonomics, the bestunderstood dimension, which is all about the fundamental body support a mattress and pillow needs to deliver hour after hour, night after night, for years. Next is Microclimate, which deals

Dow’s ‘three dimensions of comfort’

with how temperature and humidity move within materials, and how we can ensure you are just right during the night – not too cold and not too warm – to reduce discomfort and, in the worst case, waking when you don’t want to.

The least-understood dimension – but also the most powerful – is Sensation. Within Sensation, we look at parameters like touch, feel, haptics and initial micro-compression, to understand how materials and constructions are perceived and experienced in use and in the showroom.

WE AIM TO BRING TO MARKET SOLUTIONS THAT HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO CHANGE THE WORLD OF COMFORT AS WE KNOW IT

How are your solutions applicable to the UK marketplace in particular? Our Dow comfort solutions are applicable to markets that value collaborative research and development, regulatory compliance, operational efficiency, and the sustainability and circularity of materials. Based on our partnerships with UK players, we can conclude there is a strong interest in the above.

Our UK-based partner, The Vita Group, already made a commitment to a faster industry realisation of a circular economy for flexible polyurethane foams, and we are beyond excited to make this a reality, together.

The new ComfortScience CLEAN Washable pillow offers consumers valuable peace of mind

Why do Dow’s solutions matter to the wider industry at this point in time? Thanks to the nature of the Dow products, and alongside our value chain partners, we are enablers of the bedding and furniture industry. This is a privilege and a responsibility, as we pledge to continuously push the boundaries of science to come up with solutions that are more comfortable, more efficient, and friendlier to our environment.

Where can the industry find out more? One can find out more about Dow’s developments in the area of sleep and comfort at comfortscience.com

STORAGE AND FULFILMENT, UPGRADED

Andrew Porter UK, an independent Manchester-based company, has rebranded its furniture and homeware storage and fulfilment entity AP+, signalling the business’ specialisation in end-to-end third-party logistics (3PL) solutions for the furniture and homeware industries from its 300,000ft2 purpose-built facility.

www.apfulfilment.com

Andrew Porter UK states that the rebrand is a result of the unprecedented growth of online and furniture purchasing over the last 18 months, with industry predictions indicating that there is no slowdown in sight.

Manufacturers and retailers, online and off, were quick to take advantage of this boom, and Andrew Porter UK was inundated by requests (from new and existing customers) for storage space for container loads of flatpack furniture, mattresses, sofas and other large homeware items, tech products, and more – and the company’s growth escalated.

As the industry flourished, Andrew Porter UK acted, and adapted to meet customers’ urgent need for efficient and reliable end-to-end 3PL solutions including storage, picking, packing, distributing and returns management/ reverse fulfilment to meet the fast turnaround times consumers expect.

Catherine Byrom, business development director, says: “We quickly recognised that this was an opportunity for growth and took action, investing in our facility’s infrastructure and software to ensure we could meet and exceed the industry’s needs for dependability, flexibility and efficiency. We also decided it was the perfect time for this area of the business to rebrand under a new name – AP+.”

AP+ invested in the latest in cloudbased systems for order management (OMS), warehouse management (WMS) and carrier comparison which provide real-time visibility and traceability of inventory, offline stock control, and automated stock control integrating with 60 ecommerce shopping carts and marketplaces.

Its carrier management software automatically compares quotes from over 80 carriers to ensure the most suitable and cost-effective delivery method every time, whatever the product(s) or end destination. Collectively, these investments have streamlined the entire operation, giving clients peace of mind that this function of their business is running seamlessly – even if they are managing the company from the other side of the world.

It has been a challenging time for the furniture industry, with Brexit and Covid-19 coming in close succession. MD Tim Aspey says: “We are extremely excited to be in the best position as AP+ to support furniture and homeware businesses of all sizes based across the world, with our industry knowledge and our specialist 3PL, storage and fulfilment solutions.”

Since relaunching, AP+ has gone from strength to strength, and promises “exciting developments” to be revealed later this year. “If your furniture business needs flexible and efficient fulfilment that champions your business growth, contact the team,” says AP+

ESSENTIAL COMPONENT

Having been named Best Fabric/ Component Supplier in Furniture News’ Readers’ Choice Awards 2021, Leggett & Platt’s UK sales director David Nuttall explains how the business has overcome the challenges of the past year …

www.beddingcomponents-intl.com

“It is a tremendous honour to be acknowledged by the Furniture News readers and rewarded for the hard work and dedication put in by the entire Leggett & Platt team,” says David. “Our commitment to providing quality products and service to customers around the world is unmatched, and we cannot express our gratitude enough for this recognition.

“It’s no easy feat receiving recognition for being the best fabric/component supplier. To achieve this status, it takes long-term commitment through significant investment, out-of-the-box thinking and unwavering commitment to our craft. By offering a full range of innovative products that are reliably delivered in a matter of days from our extensive stock, we can appeal to customers and give them what they need, exactly when they need it.

“As with all companies, 2020 was a tough year, filled with plenty of uncertainty. Despite the many ups and downs, Leggett & Platt persevered and finished the year on strong footing.

“This year has followed a similar trend, with a great start, followed by a slow Easter period. Business levels now seem to be following the usual seasonal trends, and the future outlook is trending in the right direction.

ActivEdge and Anatom II combine to create a durable, dynamic sleep system with added customisable precision David Nuttall

“Ultimately, Leggett & Platt considers itself well positioned for the future. Ongoing investment in machinery has enabled us to introduce a number of exciting technology advancements and products recently, including our range of ActivEdge and Anatom II pocket units.

“The ActivEdge spring perimeter solutions extend comfort life, reduce or eliminate roll-off, and deliver a sleep surface that is consistent all the way to the edge. These active spring perimeter solutions create a durable and dynamic edge for superior support and comfort.

“The pocketed innersprings in ActivEdge move independently to support the individual contours of the body, and are heat treated and tested for performance, quality, and durability. ActivEdge products can compress, fold, and roll-pack, making them ideal for use in shippable mattress programmes.

“Then there’s Anatom II, the latest iteration of Leggett & Platt’s revolutionary zoning application – offering the same precise levels of specified anatomic zoning for unprecedented comfort, but also scientifically enhanced and heat treated for superior, long-lasting strength and durability. Anatom coils provide an even surface that absorbs partner movement and prevents sleepers from rolling together. This system optimises wire and raw material content by providing custom support exactly where it’s needed”

SATRA supporting you

SATRA Technology has launched a new furniture and floor coverings membership package, specifically tailored to meet the needs of these industries.

Membership provides businesses with a range of benefits such as bespoke technical support and advice through our technical team, helping businesses to understand current legislation, influence new standards and develop product specifications.

Also included are testing discounts, 20% of the annual subscription value returned in the form of vouchers and access to SATRA’s new online Furniture & Floor Covering Hub, a go-to repository for the latest industry news, technical information on standards and regulatory requirements, as well as industry focussed features such as polls. Find out more about membership by visiting furnishings.satra.com

www.satra.com furniture@satra.com Tel: +44 (0)1536 410 000

PIKE TEXTILES

www.pike-textiles.com

The bedroom can be a sanctuary, so creating a unique style is essential – selecting the correct colour and fabric for a new upholstered bed can make or break a room.

Pike Textiles understands this, and works with some of the leading names in the bed-manufacturing industry to create beautifully designed fabric books to ensure customers can design the bed of their dreams.

With 130 years’ experience in the pattern book industry, Pike Textiles embraces creative fabric book layouts, and can advise on innovative sampling solutions. Whether it is a showroom hanging length to support the customer’s shopfloor sales journey, a ring set to present fabric collections, or a bespoke cuttings service, Pike Textiles has the capacity and skill to produce fabric books to meet any bed sampling requirements.

With a complete fulfilment service, Pike Textiles has the scale and flexibility to meet the demands of customers within the bed industry. For further information, contact enquiries@pike-textiles.com

The eco-friendly Fibrefill Blue cushion

The world’s consumption of plastic has increased dramatically over the past 70 years, creating huge amounts of waste. Alongside other plastic items, bottled water has become a major source of this waste, and, in the hope that it can help remedy the crisis in some small way, Fibreline has found a way to utilise it, by converting the equivalent of 100 plastic bottles into each “very comfy” Fibrefill Blue cushion.

Completely recyclable, Fibrefill Blue offers cushion manufacturers an environmentally friendly solution that puts waste plastic to good use. Call 01535 606846 or visit Fibreline’s website to find out more

FIBRELINE

www.fibreline-ltd.co.uk

Fibreline converts plastic bottles into cushions

YOTFC

www.yotfc.co.uk

When the going gets tough, YOTFC continues to help its customers achieve sales, says MD David Harrison, who says the business is experiencing a huge number of requests for bespoke products right now – yet remains highly competitive in its pricing, nonetheless.

“Our character oak tables offer the opportunity to create bespoke products to fit in with almost any specification,” he says.“We also offer farmhouse and Shaker leg styles in finishes that meet most tastes, in paints, oils and lacquers, and our fabulous range of waterproof fabrics and leathers are available for even the most discerning buyers.

“All of the above is backed up with the will to give our customers the service they deserve.”

FURNITURE INDUSTRY RESEARCH ASSOCIATION

www.fira.co.uk

Two new projects for members of the Furniture Industry Research Association have been launched. The first is a suite of business support documents and templates covering a broad range of topics including carbon footprinting, UKCA marking and biocides. The suite is designed to support members in being compliant with various regulations.

The second is two matrices for REACH, which aims to support those involved in the supply chains of upholstered furniture and mattresses to understand how to comply with the REACH regulations. These free resources for members are also available for non-members to purchase – full details are available via info@fira.co.uk.

The association has launched new resources to help industry professionals better understand their responsibilities (image courtesy iStock.com/Dilok_ Klaisataporn)

The Furniture Makers’ Company the furnishing industry’s charity

IT’S TIME TO STEP 2 IT

Step 2 It is the exciting new fundraising campaign by industry charity The Furniture Makers’ Company.

The Furniture Makers’ Company is launching its largest ever fundraising campaign in May, asking the furnishing industry to ‘Step 2 It’ and help raise £250,000 to support people from the trade who have been impacted by COVID-19.

Step 2 It aims to inspire companies and individuals to organise sports-based fundraisers between May 2021 – April 2022 in aid of the charity, encouraging friends, family and co-workers to join in the fun. What’s more – thanks to a benefactor, every single penny you raise will be matched, effectively doubling your donation.

Last year our charity awarded a record number of financial grants to people from the sector whose lives and livelihoods were disrupted by the pandemic. Now we need your help to raise funds so we can keep supporting the industry.

Have fun, raise money, support lives, Step 2 It

Claim your fundraising toolkit: www.furnituremakers.org.uk/step2it

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#367 October 2019

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