High Weald Furniture - a successful business designing and manufacturing modern durable furniture from small diameter local green hardwoods. David Green & Michael Rigg, company directors, have struck a healthy balance between the advantages of batch production and the skills and creativity required for individual designs.
David
and Michael have been working together since their first joint project in
1993 - making 65 chestnut chairs for the Horniman Museum in London,
finally setting up their own company eighteen months ago. They have
focussed on using a previously under-utilised product – small diameter
oak, chestnut and ash – and have designed and manufactured high quality
products with a proven market.
Their workshop is located at Copford Sawmill in
East Sussex and contains all the usual machinery – simple circular saw,
planer thicknesser, crosscut saw and mortiser.
The life expectancy of the machines is slightly shortened due to
the moisture content of green timber affecting parts, but with regular
maintenance and within the bigger business picture David and Michael
consider the affect to be negligible.
They see the close relationship they have built up with their suppliers as
crucial to their success. Their
timber is from sustainably managed woodlands within 20 miles radius of the
workshop or supplied by the Woodland Trust (FSC certified).
Their most convenient green oak supplier, Copford Sawmill, is
within 100 yards of their workshop offering numerous advantages to High
Weald Furniture. They have a
regular supply of green oak from a miller who understands their
requirements; they can adapt cutting lists and designs to suit available
timber at a moments notice; their timber is cut to exact requirements with
virtually no wastage while transport costs and pollution are minimised.
When choosing dry timber, taking time to plan the cutting and
select the best timber is time-consuming, but essential. At the timber yard, having the cutting list to hand, and even
chalking cuts on each plank, makes the job of selection easier. They
always buy 50% more dry timber than required for the design and cost this
into quotes as often faults not apparent at selection will show once the
wood is crosscut and planed.
High Weald Furniture has a commitment to using local hardwoods produced
sustainably and supports the local economy wherever possible.
However, David and Michael do not consider their environmentally
conscious philosophy to be their main selling point.
Rather, they pride themselves on setting, and meeting, realistic
deadlines and on their ability to listen carefully to the customer
ensuring the designs meet their needs and requirements.
They are happy to work with either their own original
designs or other peoples. They have developed a set of standard designs,
which can be adapted easily to individual requirements. Quotes can often be made quickly and a large proportion of
their timber-purchase, storage and preparation is standardised.
Six
months ago David launched www.the-green-oak.co.uk,
the website for High Weald Furniture.
This has been particularly useful for showing their products to
potential customers within minutes of an initial telephone enquiry – an
instantly available online catalogue for those with web access - making
ordering very efficient.
This has resulted in an estimated 25% increase in turnover already,
at a time when orders have been otherwise low due to the Foot and Mouth
crisis.
The website is also relatively easy and cheap to update, compared
to the expense of a paper catalogue, which would rapidly go out of date.
David and Michael have looked into using kiln dried local hardwoods for
batch production.
However they are yet to find a local supplier who can provide
sufficient kiln-dried timber on a regular basis to make these products
viable.
A gap in the market exists and the question remains – what needs
to happen to make kiln dried local timber readily available in large
quantities?
Their dream is to build their own workshop out
of local timber on their own land. However,
the convenience of working so closely with Copford Sawmill is such a
strength in their business that their dream will have to wait until a
piece of very local land becomes available.
Contact: High Weald FurnitureLtd, Tel: 01435
810402
www.the-green-oak.co.uk
Alex Gingell, Copford Sawmill Tel: 01435 813472
Illustrations from top: oak & sycamore dining table; oak bench; glass
fronted ash cabin
