Building on its background of commercial furniture production, Meridian Upholstery burst onto the UK furniture retail scene in 2022, and made such an impression that it was voted Best Newcomer in Furniture News’ Readers’ Choice Awards. It has made good inroads since – only last month, Meridian showcased its newest lines to the trade, and things are looking up, explains MD Jonathan Eager …
Has the business’ strategy changed much since you first emerged in the UK retail scene?
It has, although retail is a hugely important part of our business now. With our future plans, we recognised early on that the amount of investment needed to build a long-lasting retail business was going to be considerable, so we pushed back heavily into the contract and marine markets, where we can balance out our workflow and generate higher margins to subsidise investment in our retail arm – which is starting to come together really well now.
What else has been keeping Meridian busy for the last couple of years?
We’ve kept a lot of floor space and have had a very consistent flow of repeat orders, but we feel now we have a better understanding of the market – what models to produce, and how to properly curate them for the right retailers in terms of comfort, fabric choice and price point.
We’ve invested significantly in expanding our retail business, with a new in-house training school, a new state-of-the-art Pathfinder fabric- and leather-cutting machine, and a whole host of new team members to properly support our retail partners going forward.
Furniture News understands you took your new models to market last month – how did it go?
We looked to rent space for the Long Point show but were unable to secure anything to suit our needs, so we made the decision to show in the Village Hotel, which was probably the most successful show we’ve had – albeit the smallest we’ve done!
Our permanent showroom is part of the factory at Newton Aycliffe, Co Durham, just 15 minutes’ drive from Darlington.
Please remind us of the breadth of your range …
Our customers span from single-store independent retailers to billion-dollar cruise ships, and the local pub to superyachts, so we have such a diverse offering in terms of products and capabilities. Our goal is to build a global upholstery business, and to do that we need to keep as many doors open as possible, and to nurture, grow and improve all areas. Retail will always be a massive part of that, hence the continued investment in our factory, products and team.
Do any new styles/materials/colours dominate the latest offering?
Two of our models, our Carolina and our Utah went down a treat at the show. Both models were super comfy and dressed in the perfect fabric story that captured the interest of the retail buyers that came to see us, which we were so grateful for.
The Utah is a bandage-arm model, which can be struggle for retail – yet it’s the bestselling model for three multi-store retailers who manufacture a version of it, so we created and dressed it in a way to capture those customers who buy them.
Our Carolina is probably the most comfortable model we’ve ever produced, and was praised by everyone who sat on it. It’s a double-arm design with neat piping detail, priced keenly, and will be landing on plenty of retail floors over the coming months.
Read the rest of our interview with Jonathan in June's issue.
Pictured: Meridian’s factory showroom
