Updated : October 31, 2025
Published : October 16, 2023
Guides

In October 2023, Furl was featured in Yahoo UK in a Behind the Brand interview as space-saving furniture specialists with our founder, David Norman.

David founded Furl in 2007 after struggling to find the type and quality of storage beds in the UK that he could find easily in Spanish supermarkets, where he’d recently bought a holiday home.

As a natural problem-solver and entrepreneur, David found a high-quality mechanism from an Italian manufacturer. He had five frames shipped to his home in Nottinghamshire. David then found fabrics in John Lewis and made his first storage bed.

Before long, he was selling them faster than he could make them personally, and so Furl (initially the Storage Bed Company), with 3 staff, was founded as a space-saving furniture brand. Now, Furl employs over 30 staff, many of whom have been with the company for years, and the plan is to grow the workforce to over 50.

Furl’s space-saving story building on Georgian heritage and Nottingham’s upholstery past

We can’t build a future without acknowledging the past. Furl is standing on the shoulders of Georgian furniture innovators and, with workshops in Nottinghamshire, is also proudly building on that region’s upholstery heritage.

Unlike other furniture brands, every Furl product is proudly made in the UK, and this is where it will stay whilst continuing to innovate, including focusing more on eco-friendly and sustainable manufacturing processes.

“The Georgians were the innovators of furniture,” says David in the Yahoo interview. “We aren’t doing anything new, we are just reinventing the wheel and making it more accessible and modernising it in today’s smaller spaces.”

Some of the most influential furniture designers and makers in the Georgian period (1714 – 1830) included Thomas Chippendale, Robert and James Adam, George Hepplewhite, and Thomas Sheraton.

All of them, and others, shaped the styles of the Georgian period, leaving behind hundreds of classic pieces you can still see in country houses and other properties, and furniture designs that live on to this day.

Furniture trends became increasingly elegant space-saving and gradually came to encompass more room to store things, whether that meant jewelry or plates and glasses in cabinets. The Georgians also incorporated more storage in seating and ottomans.

UK-made, hand-crafted space-saving furniture that makes people go Wow!

Since Furl was founded and has now expanded to include three showrooms in London, David has been committed to ensuring everything that leaves the workshops improves customer’s lives.

“To create a product which people hadn’t seen before that made people go ‘wow’ is pretty intoxicating. Once they had it delivered and were raving about how much more tidy their house was, and how it changed the way they live, it was a massive motivator”, David said.

For example, putting storage in the arms of sofas is an innovation that customers love. “It’s empty air inside covered by fabric,” adds Norman. “It’s a really useful space that should be used, and we do that to the absolute best of our ability.”

It’s one of the reasons manufacturing is staying in the UK and won’t ever be outsourced abroad. “Nottingham used to be the upholstery capital in the UK,” adds David, who has now started an apprenticeship scheme to tackle the manufacturing and upholstery skills shortage.

“My vision is to employ more and more people as it gives me huge satisfaction.

“Staff have been with us for 15 years and many staff over 10 years, primarily on the manufacturing side. There aren’t many places or people who believe they have a job for life now, but those who do join us see that here.

Space-saving living room furniture: Storage sofas, smart tables

Furl exists to solve problems for our customers. Need more storage in your living room?

We’ve got you covered with storage sofas, with loads of space underneath, even in the arms, and so comfortable you’d not know there was a suitcase underneath! You can even store books, drinks, or toys for kids in the arms of our sofas.

We also have a range of smart coffee tables that turn into a desk or dining table in a few seconds. These can also come with storage; plus, there’s a fantastic range of dining tables that can seat 10+ and yet fold away miraculously.

Space-saving furniture: Clever tables, home office

At Furl, we have numerous practical space-saving solutions for your home office, including Furl’s Little Home Office. It’s a fold-away desk that’s no more than a hand width.

If you’d prefer to work from your dining room table, we have solutions for that too, especially if you only use your table part of the time. Our clever tables can turn into a desk or dining table in a few seconds.

Space-saving furniture for bedrooms: Storage beds and sofa beds for everyday use

For anyone in the market for a new bed in a master bedroom or guest room, Furl has the answer: Check out our storage beds, which are the most beautiful, comfortable, practical, and easy to open, and have the deepest storage (from 20cm to 40cm) you’ll find anywhere.

Our space-conscious storage beds take up less space in your room and are delivered and assembled by our team.

Furl storage beds and ottoman beds come with 100s of fabric choices, with or without headboards, and the frames take up less space than the average storage beds. Sizes go from Single to Emperor, and you can even order one naked so that you can pick fabrics later on.

When it comes to opening mechanisms, they’re easy to lift with side or end opening mechanisms, and there are electric options, too.

For those who have guests, friends, or family stay every so often, our range of sofa beds is so comfortable no one would know they’re a sofa bed. Furl’s sofa beds are ideal for everyday use and can turn from a sofa into a bed (with full-sized mattresses and every bed size available) in only a few seconds.

Looking for space-saving furniture from Furl?

Look no further than Furl.

We have 3 London showrooms where you can see our storage beds, sofa beds, storage sofas, clever tables, and folding home offices.

If you need furniture in a hurry, we have in-stock products online and in-store, and if you’re inside the M25 (London), then we can offer 2-week Express Delivery, and our team will build it for you.

For more space-saving inspiration, check out our blogs (and you can read the full Yahoo UK interview here):

Space Saving Furniture: A Guest Post by Decluttering Expert, Helen Sanderson

Furl’s 5 Top Tips For How to Organise Storage For Guests