In May, Jonathan Hindle, group European MD of contract furniture manufacturer KI, was installed as the new master of the Furniture Makers, the City of London Livery Company that acts as the British furnishing industry’s central organisation, charity and patron. Furniture News discovers more about his plans …
How did you come to be a member of the Furniture Makers to begin with, and do you have experience within its hierarchy?
I was introduced to the livery by Ray Leigh MBE in 1997. I was quickly involved with the Company and sat on many committees including design, training, membership and communications. I also founded and chaired the Design Guild Mark for its first few years and most recently chaired the new corporate membership committee for its initial formative years.
How would you describe the current state of the organisation?
The organisation is in very good health with a fully engaged and passionate membership drawn from industry leaders through to designers and students. Following a merger with the industry’s leading charitable trust last year, the Company is now firmly established as the furnishing industry’s central organisation, patron and charity. The Company is widely regarded as relevant, and an organisation that gets things done.
What does being master mean to you?
Taking up the reins as master is a very exciting and somewhat daunting prospect. A huge amount has been achieved by the many masters who have led before me, and a great deal is rightly expected of the Company to support an industry with a huge potential for growth and development and with an urgent need for investment in people and skills.
What experiences/skills do you feel you bring to the position?
I am a chartered designer with a passion for furniture and furnishing design. I also have experience of manufacture, sales, marketing, logistics and business development in the furnishing, design and property development industries.
How do you intend to help support designers in particular?
I intend to make design the principal focus of my year – in particular, investment in design by manufacturers. I am particularly delighted that the Design Guild Mark is now widely recognised as the leading accolade for designers and volume manufacturers of furniture. The Design Guild Mark is also raising awareness of the importance of investment in design.
"We want to be regarded as relevant and dynamic. I propose to see through what are ambitious but realistic goals"
In October, we shall be launching a new book by Lesley Jackson entitled Modern British Furniture Design since 1945. The V&A is publishing the book, and will be distributing it through their global channels. Individual donors, company donors and sponsors were drawn from the Furniture Makers Company’s membership to meet the author’s costs. All donors and sponsors are recognised in the book.
The V&A believe this to be the only authoritative book on this subject in this period, and therefore have high hopes for its adoption worldwide as the pre-eminent reference book on this important period of British furniture design and manufacture.
How do you intend to encourage graduates to join the industry?
We have several ongoing and new initiatives planned to encourage more graduates to join the industry. Our industry has told us that there are not enough motivated or qualified youngsters joining our ageing workforce. We have therefore decided to set up a number of initiatives to start to turn things around. These are possibly best illustrated in the tiers of a pyramid.
At the base of this pyramid of activity sits schools. We are engaging with them, and within one year we will have a programme of prizes in place to reward furnishing design excellence in 250 schools. This will grow to 1000 schools by 2015/16. We are also talking to careers departments to develop an eye-catching method to attract students into our industry. We will work with all our partners to ensure we have an excellent promotional tool for the industry.
The next tier of support lies with apprentices. We want to encourage the development and practical training of youngsters who would otherwise struggle to gain meaningful employment. We will work with established training organisations to fund a broad range of apprenticeships across the spectrum of manufacturing, retail and associated services. No sector will be off limits, provided there is a demonstrable need. This year we are starting small with five places, but this will grow to 35 each year by 2015/16.
The third tier of support for the future furnishing industry workforce is our continuing support to designer students at both BA and MA levels. We will increase the number of bursaries and also spread our net a little wider in terms of the universities we support.
“Our industry has told us that there are not enough motivated or qualified youngsters joining our ageing workforce”
The fourth tier is to develop a course for the dozen or so brightest candidates, where they can spend time with our corporate members gaining a focused commercial edge through an internship programme. This will help them with valuable experience, while at the same time giving our members the chance to see them in action – and thus the ability to recruit the best workforce available.
The final layer of support will be offering these interns the opportunity to be mentored by an experienced and appropriate member of the industry.
What are the key challenges involved in heading up the Furniture Makers, and how do you intend to overcome them?
We want to be regarded as relevant and dynamic. I propose to see through what are ambitious but realistic goals. These goals are subscribed to at every level of the organisation. Measurable performance criteria are set by each committee chairman and agreed by committees.
The Company is evolving at a considerable rate – however, we have the industry’s leaders as our members, who gladly give their time pro bono to ensure we encourage and support the development of individuals, companies and the industry in general. We are now structured with a CEO/clerk who provides the full time continuity of management and leadership to a full-time team of staff with clear roles and responsibilities aligned to the Company’s strategic goals. All our members play their part. They have a passion for the industry and varied experience, which is brought to bear as mentors.
