ercol + Grown in Britain
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ercol.com
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Grown in Britain (GiB) was founded over 10 years ago
to strengthen the domestic supply chain and reduce
dependence on imports through improved forest practices.
This is a mission close to our own hearts, and we are proud
to have been the first UK furniture maker to work with GiB to
make products from homegrown timber at scale.
For decades, there have been concerns in Britain around
homegrown timber supplies, particularly of hardwoods. In
1944, our founder Lucian Ercolani’s first major contract was
to make 100,000 Windsor chairs for the Utility Furniture
scheme, which had been introduced to cope with wartime
shortages and rationing of raw materials.
Eighty years later, Britain remains the world’s second-largest
net importer of timber products after China, with over £8
billion-worth of wood products shipped in every year. It’s
not that we don’t have woodlands here, of course: forests
occupy around 13% of the UK’s land area, and over 14,000
hectares (around 35,000 acres) of new woodlands were
added in 2020/21 alone. The problem is that large swathes
of these woods are under-managed. As well as being far
less productive overall than they used to be, they no longer
produce wood of the right quality in sufficient quantities
for furniture-making – in fact, over 85% of locally-sourced
hardwood is simply burnt as fuel.
Through the partnership, we’re now offering a range of
products manufactured exclusively in British ash. They’ve been
carefully chosen based on known timber volumes so we can
ensure consistent production and quality. We started with
the Marino chair and sofa, and our Pebble nest and coffee
tables and we have expanded on this to now include our new
Fairmile table and chair, along with the Lugo chair.
Being able to source more of our raw materials from within
the UK is an important part of our own sustainability journey.
More broadly, using timber to make a piece of furniture means
the carbon dioxide captured in the living tree is ‘locked away’
for its entire lifetime and beyond.
Our growing GiB range is also encouraging investment along
our entire supply chain, helping to demonstrate that working
with sustainable British timber is both commercially viable and
environmentally responsible. It’s a small but important step
and we’re looking forward to continuing the journey in future.
'Being able to source more of
our raw materials from within
the UK is an important part of
our own sustainability journey.'
ercol is the first UK furniture maker to work with
Grown in Britain to make products from certified
British homegrown timber, at scale. And, we
are proud to continue to broaden our GiB
collection and our use of homegrown timber.
Fairmile large extending dining table, dining chairs and Lugo
armchairs, all made using Grown in Britain (GiB) certified timber.
Marino sofa.
