LUKE HUGHES is furniture designer to Britain’s best-loved buildings and some of the world’s most powerful brands. The company, formed out of Luke’s original craft workshop, now specialises in designing furniture for the prestige areas of public and corporate buildings. He and his design team have, since moving the studio to Covent Garden some 30 years ago, designed furniture for more than 50 Oxbridge colleges, 80 churches, 17 cathedrals, 8 embassies, 7 national museums, 5 Royal palaces, 2 Supreme Courts, 41 luxury spas in international hotels and more than 900 boardrooms for major international corporations. Only now is Luke Hughes and Company making its formidable experience available to an international audience. TIMELINE: THE STORY SO FAR…
Transcript
L u k e H u g H e s is furniture designer to Britain’s best-loved buildings
and some of the world’s most powerful brands. The company, formed out
of Luke’s original craft workshop, now specialises in designing furniture for
the prestige areas of public and corporate buildings.
He and his design team have, since moving the studio to Covent Garden
some 30 years ago, designed furniture for more than 50 Oxbridge colleges,
80 churches, 17 cathedrals, 8 embassies, 7 national museums, 5 Royal
palaces, 2 Supreme Courts, 41 luxury spas in international hotels and more
than 900 boardrooms for major international corporations.
Only now is Luke Hughes and Company making its formidable experience
available to an international audience.
timeline:the story so far…
19821982 1983 19841981 1982 1983 1984
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L u k e H u g H e s was educated at Cambridge University before setting
up a small craft workshop in the back-yard of a house in Bloomsbury in 1978,
then moving to Covent Garden in 1981. He established Luke Hughes and
Company in 1986, at that time producing design work and prototypes for
Liberty & Co., Heals and John Lewis Partnership.
Hughes’s design philosophy is heavily influenced by the principles of the Arts and
Crafts Movement, not least about the nature of craftsmanship. Another central
principle is that, in any quality building, the connection between architecture and
furniture should be seamless: most buildings cannot function without furniture,
yet inappropriate pieces grossly undermine great architecture.
Since 1990, he has focused on design for public spaces, particularly in the
corporate, leisure, institutional and ecclesiastical sectors – usually for buildings
with significant architectural interiors.
19 8 2 -19 8 4 Luke Hughes
produced one-off commissions
for many private clients.
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19 8 5 First commercial
designs for retail sector; clients
include John Lewis Partnership,
Liberty’s, Heals, and General
Trading Company.
19861985 1987 1988
‘ I t L o o k s m o d e r n b u t I s d e e p Ly r o o t e d
I n t H e e n g L I s H t r a d I t I o n o f r o b u s t
d e s I g n a n d H I g H c r a f t s m a n s H I p ’ c a b I n e t m a k e r j o u r n a L
19 8 6 Formation of Luke
Hughes & Co Ltd; first share
capital issued under Business
Expansion Scheme.
19 8 7 Frostbite whilst on Tibet
mountaineering expedition forces
change of emphasis in favour of
producing own designs by other
chosen craftsmen.
19 8 8 -19 8 9 Development
of ranges for retail sector.
19901989 1991 1992
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‘ t H e f u r n I t u r e t H e y m a k e H a s b e c o m e
a n I n t r I n s I c p a r t o f t H e a r c H I t e c t u r a L
H e r I ta g e o f b r I ta I n ’ s b e s t b u I L d I n g s ’ I n d I a n f u r n I t u r e j o u r n a L
19 9 0 Second BES share issue;
establishment of workshop in
Tisbury, Wiltshire.
19 9 1 First Oxbridge commission
(Corpus Christi College,
Cambridge); first exploitation of
computer aided design.
19 9 2 Growing sales to
Oxbridge colleges; first
commission for Foreign Office
(British Embassy in Buenos
Aires); first order over £250k
(Merton College).
do
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19941993 1995 1996
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19 9 3 -19 9 6 Projects evenly
distributed between corporate
and institutional market.
19 9 3 Development of
relationships with blue chip
corporations, merchant banks
and legal firms; first corporate
order over £350k (CSC).
19 9 4 Closure of Tisbury
workshop in favour of strategic
partnerships with other
specialist workshops.
19 9 6 -19 9 9 First standard
ranges of meeting room tables
and chairs developed.
19 9 6 The company achieves
ISO 9001 registration for its
quality management.
‘ t H e c o n n e c t I o n b e t w e e n f u r n I t u r e
a n d a r c H I t e c t u r e s H o u L d b e s e a m L e s s ’
L u k e H u g H e s
pe
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19981997 1999 2000
19 9 7 Major public commission
of furniture for new British
Embassy in Moscow.
19 9 8 First commission over
£500K (St Hugh’s College, Oxford).
19 9 9 Relationships established
with wider furniture constituency
including Bisley, Wilkhan
and Vitra; offices extended to
accommodate growing business.
2 0 0 0 First venture making
spa furniture for luxury
international hotels (Mandarin
Oriental); start of exclusive
production and marketing of
Wales & Wales street furniture;
website launched.
‘ I w a n t e d t o s ay H o w m u c H I H a v e
a p p r e c I at e d a n d a d m I r e d y o u r d e s I g n
s k I L L s a n d d e t e r m I n at I o n t o g e t t H I n g s
e x a c t Ly r I g H t ’ a L a n s t a n t o n w I L L I a m s
min
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o20022001 2003 2004
2 0 0 1 Millennium altar, Bristol
Cathedral; extension of corporate
work into multi-media.
2 0 0 2 Increasing use of glass,
stone, resins and other materials.
2 0 0 3 First commission of
£750K (Supreme Court LIbrary,
Edinburgh).
2 0 0 4 First client for whom
collective orders total more than
£1M (BP).
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20062005 2007 2008
2 0 0 6 First client for whom
collective orders exceed £2M
(RBS); 50th Oxbridge college
(Gonville & Caius, Cambridge);
25th anniversary celebration
held at St George’s, Bloomsbury.
‘ w H e n I s a w t H e n e w c H a I r s I n t H e
L I b r a r y, I H a d t H e c u r I o u s s e n s e t H at
t H e y H a d a L w ay s b e e n t H e r e , s o r I g H t
d o t H e y L o o k . a s t o t H e c r a f t s m a n s H I p,
I t I s s u p e r b …’ b u r s a r , k e b L e c o L L e g e , o x f o r d
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