This summer, eight young professionals – all earmarked as future industry leaders – completed a unique three-week tour of UK furniture and furnishing businesses facilitated by The Furniture Makers’ Company, as the Young Professionals Industry Experience (YPIE) returned after a five-year hiatus. Furniture News refused to accept that “what happens on the road stays on the road”, and rounded up a selection of the participants for the lowdown …
Just one of The Furniture Makers’ Company’s educational initiatives, the YPIE aims to offer a small group of hand-picked professionals a comprehensive overview of the furniture supply chain – comprising 20 visits to companies specialising in raw materials and components, manufacturing, pricing, marketing, merchandising and IP.
The participants – six on whom went on to share their experiences with representatives of the host companies and other industry dignitaries at Furniture Makers’ Hall – agreed that the programme, while punishing, proved thoroughly rewarding, going some way to broaden horizons in an industry that can sometimes feel inaccessible and fragmented.
This year’s participants were: Ellie Amodio, senior marketing executive at Sleepeezee; Claire Anderson, assistant production manager at George Smith; Jess Blake, social media manager at Saxon Furniture; Lydia Burrows, head of brand experience at HSL Chairs; Gabriella Charlton-Little, account manager at Colebrook Bosson Saunders; Jordan Hargadon, new product development team leader at Silentnight; Tab van der Lande, furniture designer/maker at Sebastian Cox; and Thomas O’Neill, senior design and projects engineer at Race Furniture.
The companies they visited were Anti Copying in Design (ACID), Axminster Tools, Blum UK, Colebrook Bosson Saunders, Designer Contracts, Ercol Furniture, 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 and William Hands.
As the programme concluded, Brian Ahern, master of The Furniture Makers’ Company, remarked: “It was wonderful to hear what each person got out of the experience, and equally very inspiring. The experience would not have happened without the commitment of our corporate members and supporters, so thank you to all of them.”
Furniture News asked four of the participants – Claire Anderson, Jess Blake, Tab van der Lande and Thomas O’Neill – to share their thoughts on the YPIE. Read more in November's issue …
Tour de force – the Young Professionals Industry Experience
