Member Article

Team Valley furniture makers to get London showroom following £100k investment

Team Valley-based bespoke furniture manufacturer, The Original Sofa Company, is planning to launch a new showroom off Sloane Square in London, following a £100k investment.

The 13 year-old firm also has plans for in-store concessions at department stores as well as a New York showroom.

An investment from regional fund management firm NEL Fund Managers, from the Finance for Business North East Growth Fund, will fuel the expansion plans.

Further capital has also being provided by The Funding Circle, HSBC and the firm’s management team.

Bespoke Original Sofa Company creations can already be seen in a wide range of high profile locations, including Google’s London offices, Harvard University, Cambridge University Union, Red Bull’s headquarters, the new St Pancras Hotel in London and a number of Dunhill venues around the globe.

Seven people are currently employed at the firm’s Team Valley premises, which doubles up as its manufacturing facility and showroom, with at least four further jobs expected to be created in the near future.

David Robinson, founder and managing director of The Original Sofa Company, said: “We’re one of very few manufacturers to use traditional methods and the highest quality materials to make our Chesterfield pieces, and both domestic and overseas demand for these products is continuing to grow as a result.

“We’ve got a strong online presence which is serving us very well, but for purchases of this type, people want to get a tangible experience of the products that they’re considering, so a ‘bricks and clicks’ business model enables us to meet this need.

“We regularly have customers travelling great distances to see us, including from as far afield as Italy, Germany and even South Korea, and the new London showroom will give us even greater access to a market in which we’re already finding great demand for our products.

“The North East will remain as our manufacturing base as the company develops, with plans already in place to recruit a further two upholsterers in the near future, and we’ll be adding more posts as required to ensure we’ve got the capacity to meet the increase in demand that we’re expecting.

“NEL’s funding model fit well with our requirements, and going through the investment process gave us some excellent ideas for how we can further improve our existing financial housekeeping systems.”

David Thomas, investment executive at NEL Fund Managers, added: “The quality and detail of The Original Sofa Company’s products set them apart for their competitors, and they now have the resources in place to make further ground both at home and overseas.”

Aimed at regional businesses which are at a development and growth stage, the Growth Fund forms part of the wider Finance for Business North East Fund.

Managed by North East Finance, it will see £125m of investment capital injected into the region by the European Investment Bank and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) 2007-13 over a five year period.

NEL is looking to make around 130 investments over the five year lifespan of the Growth Fund, and is actively looking to speak to ambitious North East companies with robust business plans.

For more information about NEL’s investment criteria, visit www.nel.co.uk or contact the investment team on 0845 111 1850.

The ERDF 2007-13 programme is bringing over £300m into North East England to support innovation, enterprise and business support. It will help create and safeguard 28,000 new jobs, start 3,000 new businesses and increase the region’s productivity by £1.1bn per annum.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .