Luke Hughes is an English furniture designer specialising in furniture for public buildings including Westminster Abbey. [1]
Hughes was temporarily working as a carpenter on London building sites in 1979 when chosen to lead a design project for kitchen shelving, which led further to the refurbishment of the client's home library. [2] This was the first library project that led to a series of bookcase designs and installations for Inns of Court lawyers. [3] He set up his first company, Bloomsbury Joinery, in 1980 in Lamb's Conduit Street, Bloomsbury. [2]
Hughes is the founder and CEO of Luke Hughes and Company Limited, [4] which went out of business in May 2024. Luke Hughes’ early output consisted of furniture for the residential market. [2] The same period also saw Hughes’ short-lived engagement with designing for the retail market. This came in the form of the ill-fated Ovolo line of bedroom furniture, originally manufactured by a Birmingham reproduction furniture company, Juckes, and sold through Heal's, Liberty's and John Lewis.[ citation needed] The line's failure to gain a foothold with the consumer forced a change to the targeting of institutional clients. [3] To that end, Hughes brought architect and former managing director of Cotswold Furniture Manufacturers, Gordon Russell, on board. [5]
Luke Hughes is an English furniture designer specialising in furniture for public buildings including Westminster Abbey. [1]
Hughes was temporarily working as a carpenter on London building sites in 1979 when chosen to lead a design project for kitchen shelving, which led further to the refurbishment of the client's home library. [2] This was the first library project that led to a series of bookcase designs and installations for Inns of Court lawyers. [3] He set up his first company, Bloomsbury Joinery, in 1980 in Lamb's Conduit Street, Bloomsbury. [2]
Hughes is the founder and CEO of Luke Hughes and Company Limited, [4] which went out of business in May 2024. Luke Hughes’ early output consisted of furniture for the residential market. [2] The same period also saw Hughes’ short-lived engagement with designing for the retail market. This came in the form of the ill-fated Ovolo line of bedroom furniture, originally manufactured by a Birmingham reproduction furniture company, Juckes, and sold through Heal's, Liberty's and John Lewis.[ citation needed] The line's failure to gain a foothold with the consumer forced a change to the targeting of institutional clients. [3] To that end, Hughes brought architect and former managing director of Cotswold Furniture Manufacturers, Gordon Russell, on board. [5]