In less than a year, Gallery Direct has gone from being the UK’s leading supplier of frames and mirrors to one of the entire interiors market’s key players.
It’s been difficult just keeping track of developments – from its expansion into furniture, to its purchase of High Wycombe’s lauded Frank Hudson brand and the integration of a fully-featured fabric range, Gallery’s ambition has impressed at every turn. The company’s ability to realise the potential of these developments has been even more startling, the frame specialist setting out to prove it can go head to head with the sector’s finest in short order.
Following eye-catching appearances at Interiors UK, May Design Series and Autumn Fair International this year, Gallery embarked on the next step in its development in October, shifting its Sittingbourne, Kent HQ just down the road to a 5.1-acre site featuring a specifically-built distribution facility with offices, showroom and 70,000 sqft of warehouse facilities.
Furniture News was lucky enough to be among the first to tour Gallery’s new showroom – which has tripled in size – mere hours after its completion. It’s clear that the company’s team has been hard at work over the last couple of weeks, laying out the new 695 sqm space while undertaking the sizeable task of moving premises.
The showroom occupies the length of the front of building’s first floor, and comprises a free-flowing path of roomsets and decor-clad walls, ending in a room dedicated to the Frank Hudson brand. The initial impression upon entering is breadth of range – that Gallery has gone from offering wall decor to cabinet furniture, beds and fabrics in such a short space of time is nothing short of breathtaking, and the showroom set-up confidently reflects the broad church the company has become.
By expanding into new areas, Gallery is quickly becoming a one-stop-shop, and whilst its leanings are towards the contemporary, fashion-led end of the market, Gallery’s range gives would-be stockists a compelling proposition – all backed up by impressive stock and delivery infrastructure.
Of greatest surprise is how well the many elements Gallery has incorporated over the year tie together. The best example of this is perhaps in the Frank Hudson room – an ornately-carved, white-framed Gallery Direct mirror hangs above the similarly-intricate headboard of a Frank Hudson bed, which is dressed in the cool chic colours of the company’s new Parisian House bedlinen and soft furnishings.
The showroom does a fine job of providing visual packages and cues, intended to inspire retailers and persuade them to embrace every aspect of Gallery. It’s retail theatre in embryo, and only possible thanks to the design handwriting behind the products that is carried through the entire range.
Gallery’s design team has managed to squeeze a very representative selection of the company’s 900-odd SKUs into the space, but the fact that the showroom never feels cluttered is testament not only to the size of the new facility, but the seamless nature in which the various product areas have been married.
According to MD Peter Delaney, 2015 is set to be a big year for Gallery, with the promise of over a thousand product SKUs – going by its performance this year, I’m guessing the industry is in for a few fireworks.
