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I’ve been using Instagram for over three years now and it’s not very often that a photo really stops me in my tracks when I’m scrolling. But last January this Maker & Son photo did just that and I immediately shared it to my stories because I loved the design, the natural linen, the styling, just everything and remember thinking at the time how comfy it looked, like sitting on a cloud!
This is a screenshot of the story that I shared.
Maker & Son replied to say thank you and also mentioned that they had just launched their website the day before if I fancied taking a look.
Just over a year later, Alex who runs the business with his Son, Felix got back in contact to say that since we last spoke they now manufacture in the Cotswolds, Melbourne, and Los Angeles which is very exciting. I knew they were going to be a huge success! He was really thankful of the support that I had given them and he asked if I’d consider working with them.
Obviously, I was absolutely delighted as I love their sofas. It also came at the perfect time for me as I’ve been looking for either a comfy chair or sofa to go in the rear half of my living room. Our living room is open plan and the front half is where we watch TV. We rarely use the rear half so I really wanted to turn it into a brighter space which we could use as a cosy area for reading and relaxing or where I could escape if the children are watching TV or if my husband had the football on (most nights!!)
I looked through the different options of sofas, fabrics, and colours that Maker & Son have to offer and chose a love seat in a very natural coloured linen/cotton called sesame. It was important to go for something that would brighten the space as there isn’t much natural daylight in that area. I’ve teamed it with a cream rug and kept the palette neutral, but maybe in winter, I will add some deeper, rusty tones. That’s the great thing about a neutral sofa, you can accessorise with different colours for different seasons and it will give it a whole new look.
No dogs allowed on the sofa!
All Maker & Son’s furniture is handmade to order from 100% natural materials (read more in the Q&A below) So I was delighted when I got the phone call just a few weeks later to say that the love seat was ready to be delivered. The delivery company gave me a one hour time slot and said they would call when they were nearby. They asked which room we would like it in and then removed all the packaging and took that away with them.
I’m so happy with how it looks, I adore the crumpled look of linen and love the texture that it adds to the room, the size is perfect to either snuggle up in alone or still very roomy even with two people sat together. The cushions are super squishy, it’s like getting a big hug every time you sink into it. It was really important to make it a space that we would really use as a family and as you can see from the images below, it has certainly been a hot seat and has fitted into the Lockwood family perfectly!
Meet the Maker.
I was super excited to chat with Alex to find out more about the amazing year that they’ve had since launching Maker & Son and also get then low down on how it all began and the process that goes into making the sofas.
I’m the Maker of Maker&Son and together with my son Felix, run our business in the UK, Australia and the US. I trained originally as a cabinet maker and furniture designer way back in the 80s (and had the clothes and hair to match). I’ve been involved in retailing and design for most of my life. In my past, I opened and ran 27 homeware stores in Australia. I came back to the UK as the Creative and Buying Director for the Conran Shops and then went on to run my own branding agency and then a digital marketing agency. Maker&Son combines all the things I have learned through my different careers and I absolutely love it!
When did you first come up with the idea that you wanted to design and manufacture your own sofas?
I’ve been lucky enough to have designed lots of sofas over the years, so the basic steps of making sketches and getting a prototype made was very familiar to me. What was new was the idea of making them entirely without plastic of any type. I think most people would be surprised to know that almost every sofa that’s on the market today is made largely from some kind of plastic based foam. Yes, it really is true, whether you’re buying a sofa for a few hundred pounds or a few thousand, almost every one will have a large proportion of plastic based foam inside. So to start with a brief of saying ‘no to plastic’ across every component was quite a big step. In fact it took us nearly 2 years of development to get them to their final stage and ready for production. We worked with a manufacturer I first met when I ran the Buying team for The Conran Shop. We’ve known each over for 24 years now and now my son and his son are both involved in the running of the businesses. We took a lot of time and different prototypes to perfect each part to get them to be as comfortable as they are.
Who would you say your target market is?
What’s the next step for Maker & Son?
And finally, if you could choose any bum to sit on your sofa, who’s would it be?
We’ve had quite a few famous names buy our sofas already which is really lovely. I have to say though, the people I most like to see sitting in them is our family. There’s nothing nicer than seeing them all getting super cosy and watching a great film together…although they’d probably tell you they’ll usually wake me up at the end having fallen asleep in the first half an hour!
Thank you so much Alex. I hope you guys enjoyed finding more out about Maker & Son, there’s so much more that goes into it than you could ever imagine.
