There was a palpable buzz at yesterday’s first “Women in Furniture” event held at the historic Furniture Makers’ Hall in the City of London. In a room packed full of movers and shakers from the diverse areas of furniture and furnishings, guests heard from three speakers about their experiences within the sector. Amanda Waring, current Master of the Furniture Makers, and accomplished garden designer; Dids Macdonald OBE, CEO of Anti Copying in Design and Donna Bellingham, former CEO of Parker Knoll and other leading brands.

Co-hosting the event, The Master, Amanda Waring opened with a rallying cry for her 60 – 60 campaign, “This will recognise 60 exceptional people 35 years old or younger working in any role who are exhibiting dedication to their careers and show promise as tomorrow’s leaders. Expert judges will create a short list and Edward Tadros, longtime chairman of Ercol; and John Makepeace OBE, award-winning designer-maker, will then review the submissions and select the winners. These 60 outstanding individuals will be announced at a special awards ceremony in autumn 2023.”

Amanda also talked about her families’ long-standing ties with the furniture sector, her late father Robin Waring was a past master of the Furniture Makers company and her mother was also immersed in this industry.

Dids Macdonald OBE., CEO of ACID and Past Master of the Furniture Makers’ Company called for more representation and relevance within this sector, “In a sector where, at most between 20 and 25% are women, there is still a long way to go, looking out to a roomful of women is a historic moment, what a fabulous sight. 20 years ago this would not have happened in Livery companies nor within our own furniture industry, it would have been a sea of men. Greater diversity leads to greater creativity. The greater the variety of perspectives and life experiences we have, the greater the ideas, thoughts, new and fresh thinking enters the mix and appealing to the widest talent base possible is the key to this – more talent, wider creativity. If we, as a sector, focus on our biggest ‘minority’ first, it is clear we need more women engaged, helping to build better workplaces, where they can thrive and contribute on subjects that affect us all.”

Donna Bellingham, former CEO of Parker Knoll, had nothing but praise for all the women she had encountered in her distinguished career leading the historic Parker Knoll brand and other leading brands in this sector. She believes it is up to us as women to lead the way and by identifying talent of the future, offer support and mentoring. Having had an extraordinarily successful career and proven record leading Boards through acquisition, growth, recession, and merger, she sent a strong message by expanding the myriad of the benefits of mentoring and engagement to encourage younger women already in this sector and those who are considering a career, by raising awareness about the diverse industry opportunities to help them achieve their goals.

Zoe Bonsor, Portfolio Director of Clarion’s Retail Division who organised the event, said, “I have held these sort of events for women in different sectors and they have been a resounding success. Not only does it bring like-minded women together, but it provides a valuable person to person networking opportunity which we so need within this industry. More events like this are planned at various venues throughout the UK.”

According to the British Furniture Confederation: The sector is larger than many envisage, operating within a diverse marketplace including houses, offices, hotels, schools, cruise liners, hospitals, restaurants, residential accommodation, stadia, airports and other public spaces.UK furniture, bed and furnishings manufacturing is a substantial growth industry for the UK. Latest verified government figures for 2021 put total consumer expenditure on furniture and furnishings at over £42 billion, supporting over 265,000 jobs across over 26,400 companies. 

Manufacturing turnover for the sector in 2021 was £12.6 billion, emanating from 8,790companies employing 108,800 individuals, with furniture manufacturing showing the largest proportional increase in sales. Export performance reached £1,5 bn in 2012; however imports topped £8.4bn in the same period.