Richard Woods, and the ‘Zero-In’ table,
which, thanks to a slicker production process,
now sells for £950 instead of £1,500. Alderson
says, ‘The fact that Sebastian is back has
given me conidence. He’s a great igurehead
and curator, and understands the brand like
no one else.’ Sales, inances and distribution- E&S’ former weak spots – are now overseen
by three new owners with promising skill
sets: Vincent Frey is the grandson of Pierre
Frey, founder of the Parisian fabric house;
London-based Patrick Mueller-Hermann is
a management consultant; and Swiss investor
Ramzi Wakim has a background in hotels.
The new team’s irst move was to cull
the collection by two-thirds, relegating 102
products to the archive. Taken together,
the remaining 42 pieces no longer look like
Jay Osgerby, who worked with E&S from the
start, recalls: ‘Established was a phenomenon;
it totally unsettled the market. Everyone,
from Flos to Vitra, was talking about this
ambitious young powerhouse.’ High-octane
parties accompanied every launch; in
2005, E&S laid on four double decker buses
to collect visitors from all over London and
bring them to a bus depot in Hoxton to
see the collection. ‘The parties had such
glamour and energy,’ says Osgerby.
‘We were fuelled up and iring on all
cylinders,’ says Wrong. ‘It was a very free-
spirited platform, and we took risks and
worked with amazing people.’ Did they ever
say no to anything? ‘Occasionally,’ he laughs,
‘but being ambitious and outspoken were
our core principles.’
For years, E&S steamed ahead, making
high-concept, costly pieces, ignoring the
late delivery times and distribution problems
that were starting to tarnish its glittering
reputation. ‘There were consistent delays,’
recalls Simon Alderson, co-founder of
design retailer Twentytwentyone. ‘It had
such a diverse range, and a huge supply
base, but if you have too many variants, you
run into problems.’ In 2007, realising that
Caparo’s skills in making pressed car parts
were not easily transferrable to the furniture
sector, E&S had to abandon its ‘British Made’
tag and produce in Italy. Still, the collection
grew and became increasingly random.
Alderson inally gave up on the brand
in 2015, but last year, his faith restored by
the new regime, he reintroduced pieces
from the E&S back catalogue, including the
Wrongwoods collection by Wrong and artistthey’re about to break into a ist ight. ‘At
times the collection has been confusing,’
Wrong concedes. ‘Our DNA matches the
perception of what British design – its
edginess – is all about. But we do need to
change from being a company that makes
objects you look at with curiosity to one
that makes things you want to live with.’
Wrong is well placed to oversee this
transition. He left E&S in 2012 and a year
later joined Danish brand Hay as design
director. As well as launching more than
30 products, including the Wrong London
lighting range, he injected the mid-market
Scandinavian brand with pizazz, hosting
glitzy launches in Milan’s La Pelota, where
once E&S had partied. His four-year stint
at Hay, he says, has given him ‘insight into
design development and costs, and what
products must do to deliver. Established is
not there yet,’ he adds, ‘but it’s early days.’
E&S has always drawn star designers
and it was not hard to reel in Grcic and the
Bouroullecs. ‘As a designer, Established was
brilliant to work for,’ says Osgerby. ‘You
want your producer to have ambition and
belief and a desire to get the job done.’ And
while big names sell and headline acts draw
attention, Wrong doesn’t want to abandon
E&S’ experimental roots.
Over the years he has put graduation
projects by the likes of Shay Alkalay of Raw-
Edges and Wouter Scheublin into production
and given countless young designers a break.
The Pasquinelli project is something of a
departure. When Wrong came across a chair
by the veteran designer in a factory in Italy,
he hunted down an unrealised 1976 design
of another chair by Pasquinelli and set about
producing it. (It’s the irst time that E&S has
‘rebooted’ a living designer; in his heyday,
Pasquinelli was well known among the chair
experts of Manzano.)
‘Priced at around £550, it’s a working
chair and relates to a period I like very much,’
says Wrong. ‘And we need some bread and
butter chairs in the collection.’ The other new
pieces also ‘ill the gaps’ and cater to a world
in which ‘meetings take place on sofas rather
than in boardrooms, online retail is on the
rise, and battery life is a constant battle.’
Anyone who remembers what a ballsy
game-changer E&S was is rooting for them.
‘It helped us create three of the most iconic
products we’ve ever made,’ says Osgerby.
‘I hope it can carry on making brilliant
pieces.’ Alderson adds, ‘The quality of design
is so high, it deserves to succeed. It was such
a positive addition. It didn’t follow trends;
it invented its own language.’ ∂
Established & Sons’ new collection, 17-22 April,
Pavilion 16 D43, Rho Fiera Milan01020401 ‘BARBICAN’ DIVAN
BY KONSTANTIN GRCICA geometric sofa available in three textile
combinations, with memory foam pads.02 ‘LIGHT’ LIGHTS
BY DIMITRI BÄHLERA series of lamps, made from Japanese paper
and carbon fibre, that emit a soft, diffused light.03 ‘FILIGRANA’ LAMPS
BY SEBASTIAN WRONGA set of four handblown, acid-etched
suspension lights, available in three colourways.04 ‘CASSETTE’ SOFA
BY RONAN AND ERWAN BOUROULLECAvailable in three distinct materials, this
sofa is easy to assemble and take apart.03190 ∑
Salone del Mobile