Passionate about great design

From Kenneth Williams to the ‘Shelton’ Booth. My 48 year Journey in British Furniture Design.

In 1978, fresh out of design college, I was working as a salesman at ‘Adeptus’ on London’s Tottenham Court Road – the historic heart of Britain’s furniture street.

One afternoon I was redesigning the left-hand window display with my back to the glass, when I felt a presence and I turned around to find the legendary comedy icon Kenneth Williams, starting back at me. I ushered him into the showroom. He was fascinated by our canvas-covered, modular foam furniture. I demonstrated the ‘Bedsit’ – our signature fold-out foam sofa bed. He loved it. More importantly, that year cemented my lifelong obsession with spatial design and the power of modular furniture.

Since then, my career has taken me from designing luxury suites at the Connaught Hotel in Mayfair to running my own commercial fit-out company,  today I channel all that history and experience into Citrus Seating Limited (yes, Cit-r-us, because we design and manufacture seating!).

At Citrus Seating, my design philosophy is simple: Proportion is the key to beauty.

Just like a flower in nature, a piece of furniture must have perfect structure and balance before you ever layer on the colour. And speaking of colour, I absolutely hate this propensity to use too much grey in a modern workspace when I know vibrant colours are more joyful, as they lift your mood and make you feel more energised, while greys just dampen your spirits. We manufacture a beautiful commercial range, including our flagship ‘Shelton’ acoustic privacy booth and our ‘Frank’ and ‘Sienna’ sofas. We have a laptop rest named ‘Eileen’ (because it’s what you lean on, though few get the joke!).

If you are an architect, specifier, or office fit-out contractor looking for flawlessly proportioned, vibrant soft seating built with decades of British heritage, let’s connect.

So, let’s help you banish the greys, and bring some Citrus into your next project.