Furniture for the People: An Interview with Henry Tadros, Chairman of ercol
ercol furniture has been a quiet fixture in British homes for over a century. Synonymous with timeless design and solid timber craftsmanship, the company was founded in the 1920s by Italian designer, Lucian R Ercolani, on the principle of furniture being made by the people, for the people.
With a seminal legacy that spans over 100 years and countless iconic designs – among them the Butterfly chair and the Pebble nesting tables – ercol continues to look forward. We speak with Henry Tadros, great grandson of Lucian Ercolani and the fourth generation chairman of ercol, to explore the brand's future.
Chairman of ercol, Henry Tadros
Can you begin with a potted history of ercol? How did the company begin?
It was started by my great grandfather, an Italian immigrant whose family moved to the UK in the 1890s. He worked for the Salvation Army as a carpenter, then went to night school to learn furniture design. In his early thirties in 1920, he had quite a moral viewpoint: post-First World War he felt there was disruption in people's lives and wanted to give meaningful employment.
He visited a Shaker Furniture museum in America, and I think that, coupled with what he felt during the war, was really the bedrock of how he changed his designs into what we're now known for – the mid-century pieces everyone associates with ercol.
In the 1940s we weren't requisitioned by the government. We kept control of our factory, and Lucian understood that post-war there was going to be a huge need for furniture, coupled with timber rationing. He worked out how to steam bend timber at mass scale – that was the key technical innovation that shaped everything that followed.
"The Windsor Collection, the Butterfly Chair and Stacking Chair were all what Lucian felt was furniture for the time, for the people today – they were what furniture should be in people's homes"
At the end of the war, there was a utility trade movement. We won the tender to make 100,000 4A kitchen chairs – mass production on steroids, which set us up as a company for the next 70-80 years. After the kitchen chair, Lucian designed the Windsor collection, the Butterfly chair, the Stacking chair – furniture for the people, what furniture should be like in people's homes.
It sounds like it started with quite a sense of social responsibility. Is that an ethos that still runs through the business today?
I would hope so. He was, even back in the '20s and '30s, very pro union, pro giving his employees a voice and good employment. Today, we're very much the same family business – I'm the fourth generation. I always want to make furniture that is honest and is beautiful but that has a purpose as well. We've had plenty of opportunities to sell or change the way we do things, but we haven't and we're still here.
ercol chairs, including the Butterfly chair, the Stacking chair, the Windsor chair and the Quaker chair
"I always want to make furniture that is honest and is beautiful but that has a purpose as well."
ercol is well-known for its timeless designs built to last. Can you give insight into ercol's approach to creating furniture that endures for generations?
The main thing is melding high-tech machining with age-old craftsmanship. We use solid timber and age-old craft techniques of wedge joinery, mortice and tenon and dovetail joints – methods used for hundreds of years. The Windsor chair uses the same method that's been used for the last couple of hundred years. Though with chairs there is a lifespan – they might last 20-30 years and then you might need to do something to elongate their life.
20-30 years is still a significant amount of time for a chair...
By using solid timber in a well-crafted way you're also elongating the life of the tree itself, and locking up the embodied carbon in the piece. If you cut down a tree at its prime and make it into beautiful furniture that lasts another 100 years, you're locking up that carbon. That's something we're going to be talking about a lot over the next year.
"My great grandfather talked about 'the joy of the tree'; giving it the purpose of life. That tree, once you cut it down, goes into people's homes and it makes beautiful furniture that they can enjoy."
What is ercol's philosophy when it comes to sustainability?
About a year ago I did a talk at the V&A Museum at their 'Make Good Symposium'. While researching I was finding quotes from my great grandfather in the '40s and '50s saying essentially the same thing as we're now saying today. He called it 'the joy of the tree'. He was also talking about what we now call sustainable forest management. Working in solid timber and making in the UK, we've always had that as a core part of our business.
Right now our main initiative is the Grown in Britain scheme, where we're trying to reduce our supply chain from Europe and use as much British timber as possible. We are looking at our carbon scope and will over time start working towards more certification.
You mentioned locally-sourced materials – ercol traditionally used beech and elm. Is Dutch elm disease part of the reason you now use ash?
Dutch elm disease in the 1980s killed all the elm in Britain – our major timber. We eventually moved to solid ash, and I've found that British ash is even more beautiful than European ash. Because we don't look after our trees as well and we have pests that bite the trees, it gives British trees more character and grain – which harks back to old English elm with its wild, burr grain. Going back to British ash gives a little bit more life to the piece, which I like.
"British ash gives a little bit more life to the piece, which I like."
How does the choice of materials influence the design and quality?
Our UK factory is only set up to do solid wood – that's what we do. I'm pushing more ash, mainly because we know we can get British-grown ash. At some point we hope to move that over to Grown in Britain – made in Britain and grown in Britain. One caveat: we do know there's probably a finite supply of ash because ash dieback is also killing ash trees.
Can you describe the ercol aesthetic and how it has evolved over time?
We have our roots in the classic mid-century style we designed in the '50s. Today I want us to be respectful of the heritage: making commercial, well-priced furniture in solid wood, with clear ercol DNA, that is approachable for a large amount of people in the country.
LSA METROPOLITAN drinkware on an ercol Pebble Nest of Tables in walnut
Can you talk through the identity of the L.Ercolani brand and the motivation behind its inception?
When I started at ercol 12 years ago I was working in international sales, building the higher end of the residential market. We ran into a problem: we were trying to sell a Pennon table for £8,000 underneath the ercol name to our established large retail market – it wasn't a clear brand message. So we decided to rebrand the international and modern pieces into L.Ercolani, as an homage to Lucian.
I'm also very interested in moving forward – having modern designs influenced by the classic ideas of what we were doing. Something like the Io table by Lars Beller Fjetland, or the Pennon table by Norm Architects, or Jonas Wagell's Grade sofa are all more modern, but using our techniques and the DNA of the past.
"I'm very interested in moving forward, having modern designs but that are influenced and based on the classic ideas of what we were doing... More modern, but using our techniques and the DNA of the past."
Design is always driven by the craft – how does L.Ercolani respect that original DNA while heading in a new direction?
We had all the designers come into the factory to understand our processes before designing pieces for us. So they really understood what we do before they were able to design for us.
How do you select the designers you work with?
I knew Norm Architects and felt they fitted quite nicely – they call themselves 'soft minimalism', which is layered with an element of warmth for L.Ercolani. I'm now actually looking at who I can work with on British design. It's a bit sad that there's no British furniture manufacturer known around the world. As we've been a British furniture manufacturer for 100 years, it would be nice to do something with a British designer.
Can you share your thoughts on the value of skilled craft in modern furniture making?
Oh it's invaluable, basically. With 130 employees we've got 2,150 years worth of experience among those employees – most people have worked 20, 30, 40 years, and one person is working up to 59 years so far.
So we have introduced a very good apprentice scheme; we currently have about 15-17 apprentices, including one female apprentice. We draw on the skills of the older practitioners to pass on their knowledge to the younger apprentices.
Invaluable craftsmanship really comes down to people. You can have all the machines and all the knowledge, but if you don't have the person, you can't actually do it.
"Invaluable craftsmanship really comes down to people. You can have all the machines and have all the knowledge of how to do it, but if you don't have the person, you can't actually do it, and it's worthless."
Why do you think people choose ercol or L.Ercolani furniture?
With ercol, we have been very visible for 100 years. Parents and grandparents received it as a wedding present or passed it on – it's very much in the hidden psyche of people. It's recognising the furniture from your childhood and it bringing back memories when you are buying a new piece yourself.
With L.Ercolani, it's a bit different because we're talking to people who don't know us. We finally had a soft launch in the UK in September 2021, but COVID happened and it never had the marketing launch we wanted. But we have had a very good reception – it's got the design, the heritage, the craftsmanship, and it's made in the UK.
The LSA CASK Whisky Set on an ercol Pebble Nest of Tables in walnut
ercol is a family business. What's your vision for the next generation?
Well, there's a lot to do! What I want us to do is keep on doing what we're doing – making furniture in the factory, employing more people, using as much local timber as possible, and really getting a handle on the sustainable side of things.
And then with the design – with ercol it's keeping us relevant and not being pulled back to being traditional. With L.Ercolani it's to try and push the boundaries and make furniture that is beautiful, well-crafted and fresh.
"I want us to make designs I feel are relevant to us; are sympathetic to our skills and our history."
Well, thank you. Those stories are everything really – just knowing that pieces of furniture are appreciated, loved and then might have another life in the next generation. There is a fifth generation of ercol, but they're all under eight years old. It's always been passed down from person to person.
Photography: Euan Barker
https://www.ercol.com/en-gb
