It was meant to be a year of 100th-anniversary celebrations and the launch of a new brand. Then the global pandemic hit. Yet family-owned British furniture manufacturer Ercol is no stranger to ups and downs. Speaking to AD PRO, Henry Tadros, the great-grandson of founder Lucian R. Ercolani, rattles off the Great Depression, two world wars, several recessions, and a move by manufacturers to China as other challenging periods the company has survived. In one particularly dramatic incident, Lucian B. Ercolani, the founder’s son and future company chairman, was adrift in a dinghy for three days in the English Channel after his plane was shot down in 1941.
Global success for Ercol came in the 1950s, driven by pieces such as the now iconic Stacking chair (1957) and Butterfly chair (1958), both designed by Lucian R. Ercolani. In 1985, the manufacturer was one of the first to embrace CNC milling technology. In the past decade, accolades have rolled in for designs such as the Romana sideboard, the Svelto stacking stool, and the Marino chair. Today, Ercol has 180 employees working out of a 160,000-square-foot headquarters in the village of Princes Risborough, England.
Timed with its anniversary—and its biggest launch to date—Ercol’s new furniture brand L. Ercolani was set to premiere at Salone del Mobile in Milan last month. Instead, the four new wood furniture collections, available in ash or walnut, rolled out virtually. “As of March 23, the British lockdown shut down production,” says Tadros, who is the director of L. Ercolani. “While we are not yet fully operational, we are now delivering to Italy, Spain, and Germany.”
The other mind guiding the new brand’s development is Ben Gaffney, vice president of the Americas and international design development for L. Ercolani. Based in Colorado, Gaffney teamed up with Tadros in 2014 after a serendipitous encounter during Milan Design Week. He draws from experience as former head of product development at Design Within Reach.
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Two of L. Ercolani’s debut collections are by Danish firm Norm Architects. The Reprise collection of lounge chairs—available with leather sling, canvas strap, or upholstered seat options—taps into Ercol’s wood-turning and steam-bending traditions. “We needed that small-space lounge—our biggest clientele is in New York,” notes Gaffney. The Hallingdal canvas from Danish textile manufacturer Kvadrat used to surface the sliding panels of the two cabinets and the media unit in Norm’s Canvas collection is customizable, an unexpected perk for a case goods collection. “You’re shooting yourself in the foot if you don’t offer customization—people always want their own thing,” Tadros says. Sculptural comfort drove the conception of the lounge and sofa options, a two-seater and a three-seater, in the Grade collection by Jonas Wagell. For the soft, rounded forms of the four tables in the IO Collection, Lars Beller Fjetland recalled the organic shapes of wild mushrooms and skipping stones encountered during autumn walks in the forest.
Despite the postponement of 100th-anniversary celebrations, the duo behind Ercol’s new offshoot feels optimistic about the future. “We were coming into Salone with the idea that we'd be production-ready, and that gave us an edge,” Gaffney says. While that advantage couldn’t be promoted on the global stage of Milan Design Week, the company’s preparation will help propel the brand through this next, uncertain chapter. As Tadros puts it: “We’ve weathered a lot of storms over a century.”
