MGM holder and corporate member featured on Inside the Factory

Manufacturing Guild Mark holder Ercol and corporate member SATRA were featured in an episode of the BBC’s programme Inside the Factory earlier this month.

The popular series, which is currently airing every Wednesday at 9:00pm on BBC 2, sees presenters Gregg Wallace and Cherry Healey get exclusive access to some of the largest factories in Britain to reveal the secrets behind production.

In the episode titled Chairs, the team explores the history of chair making in the UK, how the process has evolved over time as well as taking a look into the tests furniture must go through to ensure it is fit for purpose.

In the programme, Gregg visits Ercol’s manufacturing facility in Princes Risborough and is guided through the production process of one of the manufacturer’s popular Windsor chairs. Gregg starts with the intake of timber and then the step-by step process of cutting and shaping the various parts of the chair before constructing, finishing, sanding it down and packaging it for dispatch.

Later in the episode, Cherry visits SATRA in Kettering and speaks with liveryman Phil Reynolds to learn how the testing house puts chairs and other furniture through its paces to make sure that it is safe for the end consumer to use. After a tour of the testing floor, Cherry and Phil put a chair built by a member of the production team through a series of tests to see if it cuts the mustard – you’ll have to watch to see how it fares.

The show also included a segment with historian Ruth Goodman who discovers how utility furniture made during the Blitz is still influencing today’s designs, as well as learning how Thomas Chippendale, a humble British carpenter, went on to make the most expensive piece of furniture ever sold.