Ercol Furniture – upholster

By Frank Parker

Ercol Furniture was established in 1920 by Lucian Ercolani in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire manufacturing timber framed lounge furniture and occasional furniture. In 1944 Ercol was awarded a contract by the Government Board of Trade to produce 100 000 low cost spindled/bentwood framed chairs. This involved a process the company developed of steam pressing English Elm so the chairs could be assembled from pre-formed components.

In 2002 Ercol moved into a purpose built factory at Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire. The company has gone on to produce many award winning ranges of furniture. Like many western countries, the UK has in more recent years also had a reversion back to purchasing from local manufacturers.

A client from the Peel region approached us requiring a quote to have her Ercol lounge suite re-furbished. The furniture was originally purchased by her parents in the UK prior to her birth in Australia. There had been some rather amateur attempts to both polish and re-upholster this suite which has the effect of adding to the work involved.

We removed all the upholstery and stripped back the lacquer to bare timber. The frame was then stained a mid-tone walnut and coated with three coats of 30% gloss lacquer. Quality seat webbing was then fitted and then we fabricated premium foam cushioning laminating it with bonded polyester fibre. We disregarded the old cushion covers and made new patterns bringing everything back to original with a blue tone fabric featuring a wide abstract diamond pattern being selected by our client.

When delivering the furniture the look on our client’s face said it all, she simply said “Amazing!” This just reinforces our factory philosophy ‘work hard and enjoy the journey’.

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    The History of Torrance & McKenna

    Torrance & McKenna was founded by Andy Torrance and Allen McKenna commencing manufacturing high quality lounge furniture in 1939. Their business however was interrupted during the war years with both joining the armed forces. They recommenced operations from their factory in East Perth in 1945. Torrance & McKenna flourished for three decades during the boom years for local furniture manufacturers supplying the up-market Perth retailers with high quality custom-made lounge furniture.

    The business was sold in 1975 to Gerry and Kath Edwards with their son John later taking over operations. Gerry had an intimate knowledge of the industry being the state manager for Wilson Fabrics, the distributer of Sanderson Linen. In 1979 Torrance & McKenna started selling direct into the market which was a good strategic move to maintain a reputation for quality as discount furniture was starting to dominate the local retail scene.

    In 2002 Torrance & McKenna was purchased by Yogesh and Dina Shah. Yogesh having a degree in furniture design maintained the quality for which the business was renowned also introduced a re-upholstery service then shifted to a larger premises in Osborne Park. The business was subsequently purchased by an interior designer Deborah DeFiddes in 2018.

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    Our clients approached us by saying they loved their Torrance & McKenna lounge furniture which they had purchased in 1989 but it has just worn out due to heavy use over a thirty year period. They wanted to flash back thirty years with an identical suite.

    Our clients were in luck as their suite was upholstered in a Sanderson Linen and this particular design was still available. We stripped back the existing upholstery to the frames, re-webbed the furniture then laminated high density padding to the body work and fabricated new polyester encased premium cushioning. The lounge suite was then re-upholstered to the original finish and our clients were absolutely delighted.

    Call us Today to Have Your Lounge Suite Reupholstered

  • Refurbish Parker Knoll chairs

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    The new venture was quickly successful producing high quality sprung furniture for the mass market. During the war years the company produced wooden componentry for de Havilland and repaired gliders then reversed into furniture production after 1945. With increasing the company listed in 1950 and then in the 1960’s saw vast production of recliner chairs which became a signature item.

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    Parker Furniture commenced operations in 1935 as Dagger & Parker formed by Alf Dagger and Jack Parker making chairs and cabinets fashioned from packing palettes. Post war they manufactured reproduction Queen Anne and Art Deco designs then Alf Dagger resigned and the business was renamed JW Parker and then Parker Furniture.

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    Our client selected a linen similar to her original choice for the re-upholstery. We removed the existing upholstery with the timber frame and springing system still in superb condition. New premium padding was laminated onto the arms and frame body. New polyester encased premium seat cushions were fabricated also polyester filled channelled and quilted back cushion inners were made. The lounge suite was then re-upholstered being carefully pattern matched at all stages.

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    From our understanding these chairs were made in Czechoslovakia in the late 1920’s, manufacturer unknown. For their time the construction techniques used are quite advanced utilising a ‘push-in seat’ and back flutes located with spring-edge wire. However the most significant thing about these chairs is the general proportion and balance of the design.

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