In brief
- Craftwood UK says more hospitality operators want existing seating refurbished rather than replaced.
- Paul Hodgkiss Designs is marking forty years in the same Glasgow Southside workshop, with 26 apprentices trained.
- EGGER has agreed to take a 30 percent stake in Chinese edge banding maker Sinowolf.
- BIFIS will run the Approved Code register for fitted interiors installers.
Craftwood UK: refurbish, not replace
Craftwood UK, which makes bespoke upholstered banquette, booth and bench seating in Ringwood, Hampshire, has been accredited to use the Made in Britain trademark. The company says hospitality operators increasingly want the seating they already have taken out, refurbished and refitted outside trading hours, and that it is doing exactly that for Hawksmoor. Its in-house work runs from design and CNC machining through joinery and upholstery to installation.
Read the report in Furniture and Joinery Production
Paul Hodgkiss Designs at forty
Paul Hodgkiss founded his kitchen, furniture and interiors studio in 1986 in a small workshop in Glasgow's Southside, and still works from there with a team of ten. The business made the 96 wooden medal podium sets and 1,500 wooden quaichs for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, and was lead designer on Luss Distillery, completed in 2025. Paul Hodgkiss says the workshop has taken on 26 apprentices in that time.
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Subscribe freeEGGER buys into edge banding
EGGER, the Austrian maker of board and wood-based materials, has signed an agreement to take a 30 percent minority stake in Sinowolf, a Chinese edge banding manufacturer with plants in Zhaoqing and Huzhou and an annual capacity of 1 billion metres. Closing is expected by November 2026, subject to conditions. EGGER says Sinowolf will stay independently managed under its own brand and that existing customer contacts and service standards are expected to continue.
EGGER press release, 30 September 2026 (Word document)
Approved Code register for fitted interiors
The British Institute of Fitted Interiors Specialists will act as code operator for the Approved Code scheme, run by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, in the fitted interiors installation sector. BIFIS chief executive Damian Walters said the scheme will not be mandatory when it launches. BIFIS expects to launch an overhauled online register around the beginning of November and will also become a TrustMark scheme provider.
Sources
- Furniture and Joinery Production, Craftwood UK joins Made in Britain, 29 September 2026
- Furniture and Joinery Production, Paul Hodgkiss Designs at 40, 2 October 2026
- EGGER Group press release, EGGER to invest in a 30% stake in Sinowolf, 30 September 2026
- kbbreview, BIFIS to manage Approved Code register for fitted interiors, 2 October 2026
- Illustration: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Settee, about 1802–07, accession 2011.3, CC0
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