The Furniture Makers’ Company Design Guild Mark for excellence in furniture design has been awarded to ercol's in-house designer Dylan Freeth for the ercol Marino Chair and Sofa, and also to Japanese designer Tomoko Azumi for the ercol Flow Chair.
The Marino Chair made its debut at the Milan Furniture Fair in April 2015. Designed by Dylan Freeth from the ercol Design Studio, this occasional chair is hand-crafted from steam-bent solid ash and has a considered and contemporary design aesthetic. In January 2016 at Maison et Objet Paris, ercol presented the two-seater Marino Sofa which was designed by Dylan Freeth to complement the existing Marino Chair. Using traditional craftsmanship and modern furniture making techniques, both designs share the same smooth lines honed from solid ash. The firm but luxurious seat and back cushions are available in 75 fabrics, including the popular grey weave fabric Hallingdal 65 from Kvadrat.
Dylan Freeth commented: “The judging panel rigorously examined the design and manufacture of Marino, so the award of the Guild Mark is a very welcome acknowledgement of the hard work put in by all of the team here at ercol.”
For the London Design Festival 2015, ercol launched its collaboration with the Japanese architect and designer Tomoko Azumi. Flow is an elegant chair made from steam-bent beech with a curvaceous form. The high level of craftsmanship, a trademark of ercol furniture, is evident through the refined sweeping lines, tapered seat and the ergonomic stacking function that allows space-saving.
This striking, contemporary design by Tomoko Azumi reflects her aim of improving daily life through design, its form and functionality, thereby creating a striking addition to ercol’s portfolio.
Available in natural solid beech, or a painted white or black finish – and now available with a new walnut seat – the Flow Chair is both flexible and practical, and will work equally well in a dining room and in a bedroom.
Tomoko Azumi said of her award: “I am very glad to receive the award in recognition of my long term collaboration with ercol, and this acknowledgement of British design excellence. I would like to celebrate this together with ercol's technical staff, as the achievement would not have been possible without them. I hope now to see this high-quality piece of ercol furniture loved by both local and international customers as it is used in their everyday lives.”
Alexander Gifford, chairman of the Design Guild Mark, says: “Chairing the judging process, for the second year, was a great honour, and watching the great minds in our industry critique the great output of British design was a real pleasure.”
ercol collections are available from retailers throughout the UK.
