All Mix Blog

A nice little piece by Kate Watson-Smyth in The Independent today on the Ercol Butterfly chair. Here's the pick of the quotes: 'Ercolani had perfected the technique of steam-bending wood into curves as well as drying elm with steam so that it wouldn't warp. These methods allowed him to produce both the classic Windsor and curvy Butterfly .' 'Lucian was always fiddling with the designs and the boardroom is full of prototypes that didn't quite work or didn't last very long.' (Edward Tadros, Ercolani's grandson) Interesting to note that the Butterfly went out of production in the 1980s and it was not until, in 2000, Margaret Howell spurred the resurgence in popularity of the design by stocking it in her shops. 'Thanks to her, sales of the Butterfly went up again and so we put it back into production.' (Tadros) Image from eBay

Robin Day, Britain's most famous furniture designer, passed away on 9th November 2010 aged 95. Born in High Wycombe, a route in to furniture was geographically apt. After art school he worked at a local furniture factory, ensuring a depth of understanding of the manufacturing process that would see his designs sell in their millions around the world. A wonderful obituary of Mr. Day has been written by Fiona MacCarthy of The Guardian so I shall not attempt to better that here. Instead, I will take a quote from Charlotte Higgins' blog to finish on: 'Remember him next time you sit in the Royal Festival Hall, the Barbican Theatre, on the platform at a Tube station, or on a Polypropylene stacking chair (the standard seat of my, and so many other people's, schooldays). His work, as he would have wanted, goes on.' Photo from Manufacture & Industry Flickr

Last night I spent some of my evening putting together an Ercol table that we bought from a lady in Liverpool. The construction of the base is truly beautiful, it was slightly sad to think I won't be seeing it again until we (inevitably) move house once more. In an instance of fortuitous timing, Ercol have today published some pictures of DEFRA minister Lord Henley visiting its factory in Princes Risborough. We would love to see more of the steam bending process that is intrinsic to the creation of the Windsor Quaker chair. Picture from Ercol

'It is the combination of quality and craftsmanship and a straightforward, yet elegant approach to the design that attracts me to this particular period of Ercol furniture and has led me to re-evaluate Ercolani's original designs' (Margaret Howell, 2004)