Ercol is a British furniture manufacturer. It was established by Lucian Ercolani and his sons in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire and is now based in Princes Risborough.[1]
The company was founded in 1920 as Furniture Industries by Italian-born Lucian Ercolani (1888–1976), who had trained as a furniture designer at Shoreditch Technical Institute, and made his first piece of furniture in 1907. "Ercol" was first registered as a trademark in 1928.[2]
In 1944, Ercol was contracted by the government's Board of Trade to produce 100,000 low-cost Windsor chairs under the Utility Furniture Scheme.[3] Windsor chairs were constructed with a bentwood frame and an arched back supporting delicate spindles, using the steam bending of English elm – a wood previously thought difficult to bend because it distorts. This method allowed the chair to be assembled from 14 pre-formed components, and mechanization meant that a chair could be made every 20 seconds.
In 1946, Ercol exhibited its bentwood furniture at the "Britain Can Make It" exhibition, held at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. In 1947, the first production-line Windsor chair, and other pieces from the range of Windsor furniture, went on sale. Ercol's mass-produced furniture found a good market in post-war Britain, which demanded smaller pieces with simpler lines than their chunky pre-war counterparts. Ercol furniture was exhibited at the 1951 Festival of Britain, as one of the latest styles in furniture design and manufacture.
In 2002, Ercol moved to a new facility, purpose built for the company, in Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire,[4] where it produces furniture made from North American elm and European ash, beech, oak and walnut. The company sources fabrics from mills in Italy and Belgium, offering a choice of over 100 different options for its upholstery. Because Ercol's upholstery is designed with solid wood frames, it is possible to replace worn-out cushions and other components, prolonging the life of the products. Ercol offers a reCover service to supply replacement cushions.
Ercol and its employees have been awarded a number of Guild Marks by the Furniture Makers' Company, including:
Ercol partnered with design magazine Wallpaper for an installation at the 2009 London Design Festival – a modern interpretation of the Chair Arch, which was exhibited in the Central Courtyard of the V&A Museum in September 2009.
In May 2023, Grown in Britain, an organization dedicated to safekeeping British forests, partnered with Ercol to launch a line of furniture including the Marino chair and Pebble nest.[9]