Onoffice magazine

A stone’s throw from the train station in a surprisingly gritty area of Chichester I find design company BroomeJenkins inhabiting what appears to be some converted holiday chalets. Company founder and director Barry Jenkins greets me at the door. He is neatly dressed in ironed shirt and slacks, but I don’t get the feeling this is for my benefit. In modern parlance, Jenkins is old school, having been in the design industry in one form or another since 1979. But…

It must be tiring to be Yves Béhar. The 43-year-old founder of fuseproject, a San Francisco-based industrial design practice widely renowned for projects like the $100 laptop and Herman Miller’s Leaf Light, looks like he could use an enormous cup of coffee. “Hi, I’m Yves,” he says wearily, sliding into a booth in the St Martins Lane Hotel. Béhar is in London for a whirlwind PR trip and, though he is perfectly lovely and polite, this is clearly not his…

Deep in south London, in the slightly rough and ready Battersea Business Centre, is Craig Jones Design. The business’ home since 2007, it seems a natural habitat for a company recognised for its unpretentious, practical designs. After negotiating a couple of flights of stairs plus a wander down a dimly lit corridor, I find the door. After a gentle knock I give it a shove, nearly knocking out Rasa Malinauskaite, Craig Jones’ admin bod and latest addition to his team.…

John Irwin, managing director of Bisley, makes a case for design led manufacturing in Britain. If the recent financial crisis has taught us anything, it is to appreciate the importance of a manufacturing culture. Disillusionment with the banks and the City has prompted many of us to wonder how so much money can be made and lost with nothing to show. It’s not just about the unreal world of high finance, but the virtual reality that we increasingly inhabit with…