Craftsmanship & heritage

G Plan's history can be traced back to 1898 when Ebenezer Gomme, a furniture maker, set up his first factory. The art of furniture making was passed down through the family and in 1953 Donald Gomme, his grandson, designed a new range of modern furniture which he called G Plan. The range was modern, high quality and good value for money. A recipe that became a great success and enabled G Plan to became a brand in its own right.

The newly created G Plan brand set the standard for the mass market by creating simple, well-designed affordable furniture. Early advertising sold G Plan as a chance to break free from the 'clumsy old-fashioned 3-piece suite'. By choosing G Plan, customers could have an effortlessly contemporary look in their homes.

The 1950's was the age of colour and G Plan embraced the trend, giving people the chance to indulge this whim with furniture. It was now acceptable to have a combination of chairs and sofas in various contrasting colours to reflect individual taste.

G Plan proved extremely popular and between 1952 and 1958 company profits increased six-fold.

In the early 1960's G Plan introduced a large, rounded swivel armchair with wings. It was available in several fabrics, but the buttoned black vinyl version became a classic of the 1960's. We proudly claimed it was 'the most comfortable chair in the world'.

G Plan also took the bold step of selling sofas without matching chairs and introduced the Emperor, a modern take on the Chesterfield design, but with lower arms.

In 1968 the government created the so called 'credit squeeze' to right the economy after the devaluation of the pound the previous year. The minimum deposit on hire purchase was also increased from 15% to 20% which meant difficult times ensued.

Despite the failure of other furniture manufacturers, G Plan was thriving. It had found a winning formula in creating up-to-the-minute, high quality furniture at good-value prices. Something that we still offer today.

During the 1970's, browns, beiges and gold became the colours of the moment. The most popular colour for three-piece suites in 1970 was oatmeal, although red and turquoise still had a following.

The typical early seventies chair was brown or oatmeal with bulky cigar arms covered with contrasting stripes in different shades of brown. The elegant simplicity of the 1960's was now over.

Despite competition from foreign imports, 1973 was a record year for the British furniture industry. Consumer confidence combined with the mini housing boom produced a massive demand for new furniture.

By the end of 1973 however things were starting to look gloomy. The OPEC countries restricted the supply of oil to the West which increased transport and raw material costs.

By the mid 1970's, the three day working week was introduced in the wake of the miner's strike to conserve energy and the country was soon gripped by recession.

Supermarket furniture, and companies like MFI, selling flat packs made overseas, began to take the industry in a whole new direction.

With the new decade came more new ranges and models to reflect the changing tastes in society.

Importantly for us, in 1987 the Gomme family finally retired from furniture making after 89 years and sold the G Plan business to the directors of the company.

G Plan continued to launch new ranges, most noticeable of which being the much-loved Malvern range. Even today, this G Plan classic remains one of our best selling sofa ranges after having undergone numerous style refreshes over the years.

The decade also marked another major change in the company. In 1996 the Morris Furniture Group acquired the licence to make and market G Plan cabinet furniture.

From now on, G Plan Upholstery was, and still is, purely devoted to making finely crafted sofas of unparalleled quality and comfort.

Today, we remain one the of the UK's biggest upholstery manufacturers with an excellent reputation for quality and comfort.

In 2001 we relocated to a new custom-built manufacturing facility in Melksham, Wiltshire. Every G Plan sofa and chair is still crafted by skilled workers who use the best raw materials to create quality upholstery. We pride ourselves on sourcing the best fabrics from around the world, including premium quality leathers that will withstand the wear and tear of everyday modern life.

We've also added new technology to our sofas. This includes reclining mechanisms that can be electronically or manually operated to bring you a new level of comfort.

In 2006 G Plan became a subsidiary of Sofa Brands International and in the same year we were granted prestigious ISO 9001 status - having being recognised by the British Standards Institute for excellence in product and corporate quality.

May 2007 saw the launch of a new collection from G Plan. With the ethos collection we have created a contemporary yet comfortable sofa line to sit alongside our other much loved G Plan collections.

New for 2010 G Plan has launched a range of neat and compact sofas to suit modern living, such as the Sienna shown above.

G Plan Vintage launch in collaboration with Hemingway Design.

Photograph by James MacKenzie

G Plan Vintage launch in collaboration with Hemingway Design.

Photograph by James MacKenzie