Chance in a Million to Measure Up
The Daily Telegraph
Bruce Hodgson's best deal began as a quotation to make furniture for a millionaire. It ended with an agreement for the executive to invest in Hodgson's company and move it on to his estate.
Hodgson, 40, is managing director of Artichoke, a bespoke fitted furniture designer based near Bristol.
He has been in the furniture business since 1991 when he left the Army, focusing on the upper end of the market.
“What we're interested in is providing truly bespoke solutions for our clients, who are super high-net worth individuals.” he says. “We like to make products that are totally original, that demand excellent design quality. We get recommended by architects, interior designers, project managers and quantity surveyors.”
Hodgson was operating as a sole trader eight years ago when he first encountered David Telling, the late founder of Bristol-based Mitie Group, the FTSE 250 business services company.
“He was quite an impressive individual,” Hodgson recalls. “I met him at a party where he was holding court in a fairly flamboyant way. He said he needed furniture for a boardroom he was designing at this private home and estate. He said: ‘I want to see you, if you are interested, at 1 pm on a certain date.' I thought he would not remember, but I turned up on time and he screamed at me: ‘You are five second late.' He took me into his boardroom and said: ‘You have 15 minutes to measure up and impress me,' so I had to tell him what we did, measure the space and take the brief, work out exactly what it was he wanted and then get out. In that situation, I just lower my guard and get on with it. I said ‘This is what we do.' David liked that approach and we got on.”
Hodgson came back with a proposal within a week and delivered it to Telling's office, but the meeting didn't go well. “He told me I was too expensive,” recalls Hodgson. “He was flabbergasted by the cost. But one of my drivers for my business is that I want really good manufacturing skills to exist in this country and they should be properly remunerated, so I stood my ground. Eventually I got quite cross with him because he was being to belligerent and said: ‘I am not going to do it at a lower cost. It's been very nice meeting you, but no thanks.'”
“The following day, he rang me and said: ‘I'm not interested in your cupboards but I am interested in investing in your business.'”
Hodgson was looking for new premises and needed some capital so he went to see Telling again. It turned out that the millionaire was looking to make better use of his estate. “He offered to invest in the company and said we could move into workshops on his land, so we struck a deal,” says Hodgson.
“I formed Artichoke as a limited company and he bought in as an investor. I put in my sole trader business and he put in £80,000. We each took 49pc and gave shares to the eight members of the team. It was less than he spent on the fireworks for his 60 th birthday party, but it was an awful lot of money for me and it allowed us to step up investment.”
Artichoke now employs 42 people and has worked on hidden staircases, secret safes and a vanity unit to hold 1,200 lipsticks, as well as fitted furniture for listed manor houses in Dorset and Wiltshire and residences in Chelsea, Belgravia and Knightsbridge.
Kitchens typically start at £60,000, though Artichoke recently fitted one for an American heiress that cost more than £250,000. It is currently working on furniture for two dachas in Moscow and a place in Saudi Arabia.
Telling died four years ago and Hodgson is now Artichoke's majority shareholder, but the connection remains. The firm has made furniture for Mitie Group's chief executive Ruby McGregor-Smith. It also remains based on the estate and Hodgson says Telling's widow takes great interest in the Business.
Hodgson is tremendously thankful for his initial chance meeting.
“What came out of it was not a pair of cabinets that frankly were not going to be significant in the future of the business to get to the next stage,” he says.
“My life changed as a result of this deal. I think David would be very proud of what we have done and what we are going to do in the future.”
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