Upholstery

Birth of an icon

Balzac became SCP’s signature design

SCP’s Balzac celebrates 30 years of continuous production

In 1991 Matthew Hilton designed his first piece of upholstery, which was to become SCP’s debut upholstery: Balzac.

‘I wanted to make upholstery and I was talking to Craig Allen, who at the time was the buyer for The Conran Shop. We were selling him other products, like Matthew’s Bow shelving. I feel like we must have had a design, because I asked Craig if he knew anyone who could make upholstery. There was a guy in East London who made a few things for Conran at the time, so we went to see him,’ says Sheridan Coakley, SCP founder.

‘I had a full-size drawing, the sketch and the model, and we just took it to the guy. Then we went back and looked at it, and asked: “Can you make it a bit thicker here, a bit thinner there…?” We had a back cushion on it, but we struggled to make it look right. So we said, let’s just not have one,’ says Hilton.

Allen then suggested ‘two guys in Norfolk who we were working out of

Matthew Hilton ‘Balzac comes from a sort of ergonomic plot really, someone sitting in an armchair and then drawing a line around it,’ says Hilton

Balzac in production The first Balzac model

a chicken shed on a farm,’ according to Coakley. The pair were to become the founders of Thetford Designs, and SCP worked with them for over a decade before eventually buying the company and incorporating it into SCP in 2003.

Working with a small upholstery company, making things to order, allowed SCP to start the journey towards being an independent specialist manufacturer in its own right. The Balzac was the first product on that journey.

The chair was spotted by Sir Terence Conran at imm cologne and sold at The Conran Shop. There was no fanfare launch but it immediately began selling.

‘It has never not sold. Matthew has earned royalties on it every quarter since 1991,’ says Coakley.

Loft living, the BA Concorde lounge at Heathrow Airport and Karen Millen stores all gave Balzac increased visibility, and the middle class began to buy modern furniture.

‘There was a tiny market to start with,’ says Hilton.

‘You’ve got to put it in perspective really – it still is. We’ve always operated at the niche end of the furniture market, that’s why DFS never did a copy of the Balzac. It’s always been expensive because we made them to order, and not everyone is going to want to buy it. There’s a bit of a Marmite thing about the Balzac. Some really don’t like it, but we’ve always had people who say that they have saved up to buy a Balzac and that it’s their favourite chair,’ says Coakley.

The company is still re-upholstering Balzacs bought in the 1990s, and replacing the original materials with more environmentally friendly alternatives – as with the anniversary edition. ‘The fact that we are still re-upholstering original Balzacs is an accolade. Not just in terms of how it is made, but that it has kept its style. It’s always been a bit of a maverick chair really,’ says Coakley.

‘I don’t think I would have guessed or had any hope of that at the time. We just made the chair we wanted,’ says Hilton. Visit: www.scp.co.uk

Sheridan Coakley, SCP founder