UK manufacturing powerhouse, Buoyant Upholstery, combines over 100 years of history with a commitment to community, quality, and sustainability
Over 100 years since its inception, Buoyant Upholstery remains one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of sofas, seating, and fabric furnishings. The company’s long legacy of success began in the English Midlands, and has since expanded across the nation, as Managing Director, Mike Aramayo, begins: “We are proud of our heritage, and the role we have played in British manufacturing history. Buoyant Upholstery was established in Sandiacre, Nottingham, by Ebeneezer Savage in 1909. We quickly built a reputation for quality and became the leading supplier of commercial upholstery, primarily supplying furniture for cinemas, theaters and luxury cruise liners. As a modern-day business, we are one of the largest upholstery manufacturers in the UK, supplying all the big retailers and independent stores.
“Our core business is the supply of upholstered furniture for the living room, alongside accent chairs, sofa beds, recliners, and a full range of leather products. Our design and development team is the foundation of the business. From initial concept drawings through to the finished product, our team work passionately to create furniture that is aesthetically pleasing and on trend, without ever compromising on quality and comfort. 
“Our approach to research and development takes many forms. We prioritize investments in the latest computer-aided design technology, which provides us with more efficiency, accuracy, and consistency throughout the whole business. With the most advanced tools available, we can craft the highest quality frames, whilst minimizing waste and maximizing speed to market. This not only reduces our carbon footprint, but it helps build and maintain client relationships.
“In addition, we pride ourselves on producing everything in-house. From concept to consumer, our team works extremely hard to raise the bar for all aspects of upholstery manufacturing. We have an industry-leading team of experts, ensuring the quality of our products and services throughout every step of the design and manufacturing process.
“We also make sure we’re continually researching market trends, to guarantee that we’re bringing something fresh and exciting to the market. We look at consumer behaviors on a global scale, and we’ve had excellent feedback from all our UK customers.”
Environmental strategy
Long-term success in the manufacturing world is about more than the product itself, it’s also about service, and now more than ever, speed. Buoyant Upholstery’s cutting-edge facility ensures its ability to keep up with demand: “We continually strive to make our facilities more efficient, and more proficient. We lead through innovation, and it’s vital that our state-of-the-art, 332,000-square-foot production facility reflects that. We currently employ over 500 people in Nelson, Lancashire, and each one of them plays a vital role in keeping our facilities top-notch.
“The process itself is very well-honed. Each frame we make is dowelled, glued, screwed and stapled before being paired with our own unique interiors and the finest fabrics sourced from around the globe,” Mike affirms.
In today’s economy, every leading manufacturer must consider its environmental impact. Buoyant Upholstery is no different, as Mike discusses: “We take a practical, step by step approach to environmental consciousness. It starts with the basics, LED lighting in all our offices and facilities, a £250,000 investment in solar power generation, electric company cars for employees, and the latest, most efficient compressors.
“Now that we’ve taken all those essential steps, we’re thinking about how we can reduce our carbon footprint even further. We’re reassessing and reevaluating our fleet — we want to branch out into using more modern vehicles and teardrop trailers. Alongside this, we are working to improve our route planning, this would allow us to maximize loads and minimize miles on the road.
“Only today [at time of writing] we received a report regarding a complete environmental impact assessment of our entire operation. We’ll use these results to put together a cohesive action plan for the future, full of sensible next steps.”
Community, sustainability & service
The company’s community-driven approach to business is bolstered by its loyal, knowledgeable team of industry experts. As Mike enthuses: “We believe in our people, and we want to hear their voices. We have a works council, and representatives gather every quarter to discuss how we can improve on the benefits for our staff. In recent times we have held seminars for the workforce on subjects such as mental health, menopause, and creating a better working environment. In addition, we have worked with MIND charity and the Samaritans, offering helplines, advice, and a closer working relationship between our staff.
“At the end of the day, it’s our people who make the company’s vision a reality. I can’t overstate how important they are. Our dedicated team produces furniture made with passion, skill, and enthusiasm — continually raising the bar and setting us apart from the competition. Generations of local families have worked for us over the years, with many continuing to pass on their knowledge and ensure the future of our legacy. They are the very heart of Buoyant Upholstery, and it’s our job to protect that.”
Community, sustainability, and service continue to set Buoyant Upholstery apart as one of the UK’s foremost manufacturers, and, with this, the future of the business looks bright as ever. “We’ve survived for over 100 years because we listen to customers and are absolutely amazing at what we do. We can handle complexity well with little to no cost to quality, and we always deliver on time. We keep things simple, and that’s what we’ll continue to do.
“We’ve had a number of major wins recently, so the next few months will be about fully developing all the sizes to launch products on time. We also want to keep developing our leather production process, to try and deliver every sofa that’s needed for Christmas,” Mike concludes.