Can you tell us a little about the history of Devonshire Living and how the company has evolved over the years?
Devonshire Living began as a pine cabinet manufacturer in 1992, supplying the local area and independent retailers across Great Britain with bedroom, living room and dining room furniture. In the early 2000s, we began importing oak furniture from Asia, adding a variety of ranges to our offering as well as expanding in to other markets such as hotels and other contract work. Although we no longer manufacture, our portfolio has grown to 14 exclusive furniture ranges across a variety of finishes. We operate out of a 200,000 square foot, purpose-built facility in North Devon, with our own fleet of delivery vehicles delivering around the country on a daily basis. Over the past 30 years, we have become a well known and respected supplier in the Furniture Industry, and pride ourselves on our product quality, stock holding, and customer service.
Sustainability is becoming a key focus in the hospitality industry. How does Devonshire Living approach sustainability in its materials and manufacturing processes?
As our product is predominantly made of wood, we take our supply chain very seriously and have strict measures in place for the sustainable sourcing and ethical manufacturing of all of our pieces. We are actively working with an external company to reduce our carbon footprint, as well as reduce the amount of plastic in our packaging and solvents in our finishes. Any products that are damaged or faulty (we pride ourselves on staying well below a 2.5% returns rate), we bring back to our warehouse where our quality control team will make repairs, and we then sell the factory seconds through our retail outlet on site, so little to no product ends up at the local recycling centre. We are also exploring using recycled materials at the beginning of the product’s life, for example we are launching a reclaimed pine bedroom and dining range this Autumn.
What are some of the biggest challenges Devonshire Living faces in maintaining eco-friendly practices, and how are you overcoming them?
Cost is the main limiting factor when it comes to hitting our environmental goals. Using reclaimed materials is more expensive than new due to the additional processes required, when many buyers would expect a reclaimed piece to be cheaper. Similarly, cardboard packaging is a lot more expensive than plastic packaging, so there is often a compromise that needs to be found between the practices we want to implement, and the price buyers will be willing to pay for the product. More research and development is required in these industries to come up with more cost-effective options.
How does your range cater to the specific needs of the hospitality industry, particularly in hotels and boutique accommodations?
We have 14 furniture ranges at present, with a new one in production ready to launch in the Autumn, and these collections span a diverse spectrum of wood materials and finishes including natural lacquer, white-wash, rustic, and painted, to name a few. Not only can we therefore cover a variety of different styles, we also have differences in terms of pieces within each range, and also sizes; from heavy traditional farmhouse, to petite contemporary designs, depending on the style of room they are situated in. Because we import directly and hold stock in Devon, we have flexible stock options such as buying in bulk especially for a project, whilst also being able to supply backup items ad-hoc as required. We also have accommodating delivery options, and a highly knowledgeable customer service team. The majority of our products are fully assembled, making installation quick and easy, and those few that do require assembly have clear and simple instructions.
Many hotels have unique themes or branding. Does Devonshire Living offer bespoke design or customisation options for hospitality clients?
Because our products are imported as complete units, at this time we don’t offer bespoke options on stocked product, however a number of our ranges do come in a variety of finishes to suit different themes. For example, our popular Dorset range comes in Natural, Rustic, Ivory, White and Grey for a full spectrum of colour options. This range also comes with 18 different bedroom items
and 35 living and dining items, so we cover a vast array of sizes to fit the space required. That being said, depending on the contract we could work with a client on designs either for new or tweaks to current pieces, so long as minimum order quantities were adhered to. Anything is possible!
