Tough Furniture: Kate's Story
Wed, 14 7 2010
Like so many parents caring for challenging autistic children at home Kate found that her son’s bedroom presented some real practical problems. He loved to bounce on his bed but no bed from any of the shops would last longer than a month, so he ended up on a mattress on the floor. Likewise conventional storage furniture didn’t survive very long either. The risks from broken furniture and the difficulty of endlessly having to replace it became so much that his toys and books lived on the floor, making the room very hard to keep clean and tidy, and his clothes had to be stored elsewhere. While Archie would happily sit the longest hour gazing out of the window, for Kate there was the constant worry of him falling through, quite apart from his penchant for posting the duvet out!
Tough Furniture’s first job, as always, was to do what it says on the packet and cope cheerfully with the hard wear and tear. The storage bed and wardrobe /cupboard/drawer unit fitted are still going strong, with all his clothes and possessions now safe in fully lockable storage, together with an I-pod player so now there can be music in a tidier room. More than this, Kate’s also found that as she can now get out different toys and books every night in rotation they are always fresh for her son and he’s taking a far greater interest, especially in the books.
This left the window to make safe, which Tough Furniture did through their custom design and manufacture service which can be so responsive to such individual needs. Adapting the concept behind their unique range of TV protection cabinets, they made an internal hardwood window frame containing a panel of polycarbonate. It protects the blind and outside glass and is lockable and pierced for ventilation too. Like Tough Furniture itself the window’s been designed to blend into a homely environment at the same time as solving practical problems.
Summing up the success of her son’s new bedroom Kate says : “ Best of all, he doesn’t cry in his room any more. He’s happier there now because it’s become a nicer place to be.”
A Problem Shared is a Problem Solved!
Wed, 5 5 2010A Problem Shared is a Problem Solved!
Grafham Grange School offers boys between 10-16 residential education to help them manage a variety of behavioural, emotional and social difficulties. When a directive was issued to residential schools to provide greater privacy for their students, there were a few obstacles.
One, the school is located in an old rambling country house, so the pupils were accommodated in dormitories in large rooms. Two, furniture has to be robust and able to withstand the day to day trauma of being used by growing boys and three, the old favourite –value for money!
Tricky situation, so why weren’t Grafham Grange worried? They already had Tough Furniture on board!
“We have been working with Tough Furniture for many years and the standard range of furniture they installed for the dormitories has stood the test of time. Tough understand our needs and have always found a solution for any problem we’ve thrown at them” said Alan Smith, Head of Finance and Operations at Grafham Grange School.
Tough Furniture designed Tough Screens around the beds, wardrobes and desks to create private spaces. These were high enough to offer the elusive privacy, but also low enough to allow space and light to prevent claustrophobia.
“Another quirky idea we came up with was positioning the wardrobes so when the door opened it blocked sight lines through the entrance. The building itself holds all the joys and character of an elegant old house, including uneven walls and floors, so the furniture also needed to be adapted to the idiosyncrasies of each room” said David Vesty, Managing Director of Tough Furniture.
Sounds expensive, doesn’t it?
Not according to Alan.
“It was five years ago that I fitted the first rooms with Tough Furniture and they still look great, it has proved excellent value for money”.
A problem shared with Tough Furniture is a problem solved – just don’t ask us what the square root of 900 is!
Craftsman meets Technology
Wed, 5 5 2010Craftsmanship meets Technology. A Match Made in Heaven.
However, for people with hearing difficulties this can be an extremely tough ongoing battle when they have to work hard to separate speech from constant background noise
One organisation who knows all about these struggles is The Seashell Trust, formally known as The Royal Schools for the Deaf and Communication Disorders. They provide high quality education, care and specialist services to individuals who have a range of complex communication difficulties.
Recently their college project embarked on an initiative to encourage a more streamlined learning experience for their students. This meant installing a wireless audio system that transmits the teacher’s voices directly to the student’s hearing aids. The Seashell Trust needed to create an interior which would maximise the benefits of this system and lessen the impact of normal atmospheric noises.
As a client of Tough Furniture for 15 years, there was only one place to go!
Because we specialise in providing hard wearing furniture to cope which the problems associated with challenging behavior we are familiar with the far reaching issues that people in this industry encounter. It generally means that nothing is standard
David Vesty, Managing Director “We decided to make use of an acoustic wall lining and adapted cabinet doors on our furniture to have recessed panels with an infill of this material to diminish reflected sound”.
Barry Johnson of Thomas Worthington Designs, the architect for the project said “Tough Furniture met the extremely demanding needs of our client, The Seashell Trust. In addition they are proactive on detail issues and deliver to agreed dates.”
It just proves that the unlikely synergy of high quality craftsmanship and the latest technology can create a positive difference to the learning experience for students with severe hearing and communication difficulties.
The Garnett's Story
Wed, 5 5 2010Furniture built with autism in mind – but you’d never know!
Autism affects approximately 1 out of 150 births and it is a condition that impacts the entire family. Learning to live with it is a constant battle.
With two autistic children, an 18 year old son, who also suffers from epilepsy, and a 12 year old daughter; rated on the lowest spectrum of autism, the Garnett family faces challenging behaviour on a daily basis. Anything they can do to make things a little easier in the home is embraced.
Tough Furniture, specialists in hard wearing furniture and solving problems with furniture, met the Garnetts to understand what their needs were. The main considerations were durability, safety and storage. And Tough Furniture didn’t disappoint.
Particularly sensitive to aesthetical appearances, we spent time designing furniture to blend in. At Tough Furniture we aim to create pieces that ensure customers get the ‘home sweet home’ feeling they want, with the durability and safety they need.
Providing the family with two beds, a wardrobe, shelving, a corner unit for a TV and a computer unit, which includes space for books; the furniture was well received.
In Mr Garnett’s words - “Tough Furniture were the perfect choice. What we received is lovely pieces of furniture. The rounded edges give us greater peace of mind in case our son fits. We’ve had the furniture for over a year now and it looks as good as new.
Not only that, but each piece has great storage so we can make the most of the space we have; it’s made life easier.
And to top it off, they are a great bunch of people who understand what you need and are very, very thorough. We’d recommend them to anyone.”
Something as simple as investing in the right furniture makes all the difference.
10 on a bed
Wed, 5 5 2010
"There were 10 on the bed, and the little one said ..."
You know it’s going to be an interesting day at work when your boss utters the words "Today, I’d like you to test our beds with as many of your colleagues as possible..."
This is exactly what happened at our Shropshire factory. One of our clients called us up to say a directive had been issued in their hospital which stated all beds must be able to withstand weight up to 40 stone. If they didn’t comply then they would have to be removed and replaced.
At Tough Furniture we pride ourselves on responding to the specific needs of our clients. In fact, the vast majority of our product development comes from individual requests. Never ones to shy away from a challenge, David Vesty, Managing Director decided that even this problem wouldn’t faze us.
“It was the ToughPlus range this particular hospital had installed and, whilst we were confident that it would withstand the required weight, we wanted the client to share our confidence.” Said David
So everyone all piled on.
Ten, obviously committed, members of staff stood together on a ToughPlus bed to see just how much weight it could sustain. The final outcome was a combined weight of 130 stone, 825.5kg or, to sound truly impressive, over 3/4 tonne! And then they jumped up and down!
Not wanting the client to just take our word for it, we took a photograph of the experiment and emailed it that afternoon.
We are sure the unexpected email reiterated to the hospital how committed Tough Furniture are to their clients and living up to their name!
Stokewood Road
Craven Arms Business Park
Shropshire, SY7 8NR
Tel: 01588 674340
Fax: 01588 674341
© Tough Furniture Ltd. 2010