Reason to celebrate at Funky Chunky furniture

The firm has expanded in both space and staff after experiencing significant growth.

Now, in order to accommodate the company’s new product launches and revamped IT systems, the team has moved into larger work premises in Jarrow to aid further growth.

Since the firm’s founding in 2013, Funky Chunky furniture has been creating handmade rustic furniture and has gone from strength-to-strength with new ranges, staff and a notable revenue increase.

Kevin Johnston, who had previously been running local joinery service Ask the Joiner founded Chunky Funky in order to make his ambition of break into the furniture manufacturing industry within the North East a reality.

Kevin started out in a small premises equipped with just one machine and set about making his dream a reality.

In need of an operations director to lead the company, he approached James Brand, who boasted a photography degree and an extensive IT skill set which would soon come in handy with increasing the company’s on-line sales.

Orders soon started to pour in and the duo appointed another joiner, Jordan Chatten, who now works as the workshop team leader.

Funky Chunky Furniture has been continuously recruiting in order to meet retail demands over the past four years, a situation Kevin and James anticipate will continue over the next few years.

Now the firm has 16 full-time employees across a range of fields, including customer services, product design and joiners within the workshop.

Kevin said every new arrival had played their own part in helping the firm to thrive.

“In year two, our turnover had increased by 259%, in year three we increased by 68%, in year four we increased by 55%,” he said.

“This year we are forecast for a further 133% growth in turnover.

“The business has performed very well in the first five years – on average it has grown 59% year-on-year.

“There is a good market for our products but the success of the business is down to our excellent staff.

“They are great at what they do and work very hard.

“We are lucky to have such a great team.”