Our journey in the industry…
CEO, Barry Townsend founder of Townsend Associates pictured in 1978.
Luckily for us Barry’s extensive knowledge in the furniture world has allowed him to develop and expand his work in this ever changing industry for an impressive 50 years.
Now as TOWNSEND SYSTEMS, we’ve built up a strong portfolio of upholstery products, whilst forming new agencies collaborations with Sandella and Bamelux, both experts in their industries.
Flashback! TOWNSEND ASSOCIATES stand at NEC Birmingham… back in the good old days.
We have long standing relationship with Matrex, part of the Leggett & Platt group, working as their UK distributors.
Their expertise in knitted products stands them out as leaders and has allowed us to bring unique materials to the market place, along with time saving tools to assist the upholstery process.
The innovative products we provide, both to furniture manufactures and to designers has meant we’ve developed new machinery and processes to fulfill an exact application… making life easier, quicker, with additional cost savings.
Nothing beats developing a new product that helps!
The journey from an initial idea to a finished product is most satisfying.
“Our diverse experience in the furniture industry helps us to pinpoint our customer's requirements quickly”
James Townsend:
With a Art background and a degree in 3D Glass & Design I’ve always enjoyed making things, renovating houses for a number of years but in 2012 I decided I wanted a change in direction and joined my father’s business within the furniture industry. Its been great journey and I’ve certainly learned lots of new skills along the way, and together I think we bring a nice mix of ideas to the table.
Upholstery is such a lovely craft, one that does not get talked about when your at school, which I’ve never understood and feel that’s a real mistake. I’ve seen first hand how many people are passionate and love all aspects of upholstery, from traditional to state of the art production facilities, and its great to see more and more people taking up the skills of an upholsterer… I’m just lucky to meet them all!
Improving any production processes, and evolving products to assist in this, is my goal.
A few minutes shaved off a production time, can often be the difference between success or failure.
Bench-PAL is very personal to me as I’ve suffered with back pain since a teenager, so I know first hand how they can make a real difference.
Its very rewarding when a customer tells me how a bench has made such a difference for them.
“Being able to tour factories, meet skilled upholsters and discuss projects with designers, allows me to get a great insight into the trade… being lucky enough to contribute in any of these areas is a real privilege”.
