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Barlow Tyrie Company History
How to compare Barlow Tyrie quality
Famous places with Barlow Tyrie furniture
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In
1920 Frederick Barlow and Victor Tyrie founded a company to produce outdoor
furniture from solid teakwood. They quickly gained a reputation for their
designs which created a timeless harmony with the natural environment. Today
many of the designs have become classics and are copied throughout the
world.
Historically the furniture was made almost entirely by hand, assisted only
by a circular sawbench. Today, we manufacture many of the same traditional
designs using modern manufacturing methods. Maintaining high standards of
quality remains the company's prime objective and the result is the finest
teakwood outdoor furniture.
Since the company's inception, our furniture has been chosen for important
installations the world over - from London's Royal Parks to the British
Museum, Oxford University and Harvard University. In the picture above,
Queen Elizabeth II is shown on an early Barlow Tyrie bench.
The
teakwood used by Barlow Tyrie comes from the island of Java, where the
company owns and manages a factory with facilities for the sawmilling of
logs, the kilning of the sawed timber and the machining of components. These
components are shipped to Braintree, England for their final quality
inspection and production of the finished furniture. All stages of
production continue to be under the complete control of the company.
Barlow Tyrie's original designs are manufactured using specialist
construction knowledge, ensuring many years of service in an outdoor
environment. It is this attention to detail that is often compromised in the
manufacture of imitations.
The
company remains a family business and is now in its third generation. Your
guarantee of quality is the trademark you will see on every piece of Barlow
Tyrie teakwood outdoor furniture.
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Barlow Tyrie Company History
How to compare Barlow Tyrie quality
Famous places with Barlow Tyrie furniture
Top of page |
Barlow Tyrie's international reputation is based, in part, on our superior
design elements. These elements, which are shared with quality interior
furniture, make a piece "correct" to the eye and, at the same time,
comfortable. Take a long, close look at the "other brand" . . .
Is
the back height the same as ours? If not, the proportions are probably off
and the backrest will most likely hit you at a very uncomfortable spot in
your back.
Is
the armrest positioned so that when the average person sits, their elbow is
resting evenly on the arm? If not, you will be forced to "slump" down. Not
very comfortable, is it? Longer components cost more, but dramatically
affect proportion and comfort.
Are
the seat and back of the "other" dining chair shaped and contoured? Barlow
Tyrie's Devon, Dorset, Commodore and Ascot chairs are fully contoured, with
extensive use of shaped components to make extended seating more pleasurable
- even without a cushion. Most "other" brands use straight seats and backs
on their dining chairs - it's cheaper.
Count the backslats in their "traditional" design seats. . . count ours.
Very often, to produce a less costly seat, our competitors will leave out a
few things. Like backslats. This is quite noticeable when comparing, but
what does it do (or not do)? Leaving out two or three backslats on a
six-foot-long seat completely changes the look - the proportion - of the
seat. Generally speaking, in a "traditional" teak seat design, the space
between the backslats should be equal to the width of the backslat. Also, by
leaving slats out, you are making the backrest weaker.
If
you are going to spend quite a bit of money on something you hope will last
a lifetime, it should be designed to last a lifetime.
When logs are cut, the timber is graded for quality. It is the same for teak
as with mahogany, oak and other woods. A small percentage of the log ends up
as "first" grade, a larger percent as "second" grade, still more as "third"
grade, on down until it is "fit for the fireplace." The highest grade
teakwood is naturally the most expensive, but as in all cases, it makes the
cleanest, most desirable product. We use only first-grade teakwood in our
furnishings. Not everyone does.
Component size and product weight should be compared. We offer our
traditional designs in three weight groups: Braintree and Waveney are our
"light" weight, Glenham and London our "medium" weight, and the Rothesay
design is our "heavy" weight. Our light weight is comparable to many other
companies' "medium" weight, our "medium" to their "heavy," etc. When
comparing, always go by product weight (even better than "shipping weight").
How
is the furniture made? All furniture is only as good as the joinery that
holds it together. Barlow Tyrie uses solid teakwood with doweled mortise and
tenon construction, probably the strongest manner in which to join wood
together, to ensure decades of continued stability.
What, exactly, is K/D? For the sake of transportation costs (from England to
our U.S. warehouse, from our warehouse to you), we ship many of our pieces
"K/D" (knocked down). This is a common industry practice, but the extent
and/or manner of the knock-down varies greatly between producers. There is
one company that sends you a box filled with components and asks that you
assemble all twenty-odd parts; that's fine if you are a cabinet maker
and have the afternoon to waste. Still others ship you "ready to assemble"
furniture made so that the parts should go together ". . .this
section was made on that side of the factory, the other bits made over
there, and (cross your fingers) it goes right together." If you've
ever
put "ready to assemble" furniture together, you know how frustrating it can
be.
All
Barlow Tyrie K/D seats and chairs are preassembled at our factory in
England. The dowel holes are drilled, and then the piece is "knocked down"
with a rubber carpenter's mallet into four, fully made sub-assemblies (five
on armchairs). When you receive them, they will go together easily
and correctly, because they have been together already.
Barlow Tyrie's commitment to quality begins with our considerable investment
in state-of-the-art machining equipment, some of which has been especially
designed and built to our specifications. This equipment allows us to
manufacture joints with tolerances unmatched by other companies, and
products, such as our circular tree seat, which are hard to find today.
Each component is checked by the sub-assembler on the line; each
sub-assembly is checked by the final assembler. After the final inspection,
the initial of the final inspector is stamped into the underneath of the
product. By initialing his (or her) own work, the assembler has verified the
overall quality of the item. No other brand of teakwood outdoor furniture
can claim to invest the effort or finances that we have, to allow you the
confidence to purchase Barlow Tyrie products. As Barlow Tyrie, quality has
more than a name, it has an initial, too.
Barlow Tyrie. Designed for a lifetime of comfortable enjoyment.
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Barlow Tyrie Company History
How to compare Barlow Tyrie quality
Famous places with Barlow Tyrie furniture
Top of page |
The British Museum - London
The Crown Suppliers - London
The City of London
Royal Parklands throughout England
Cambridge University
Oxford University
Durham Botanial Garden - Durham, England
Dunblane Memorial, Scotland
London Business School - London
City of York - York, England
St. Andrews
Wentworth Golf CLub
Kahn Gardens - Boulogne
Museum D'Orsay - Paris
Museum Rodin - Paris
Museum Picasso - Paris
Museum Claude Monet - Giverny
Blerancourt Gardens
Luxembourg Royal Palace
Brenner's Park Hotel - Baden-Baden, Germany
Schlobhotel Buhler Hohe - Bruhl, Germany
1992 Summer Olympics (Olympic Village) Barcelona, Spain
Carl Gustaf Hotel - St. Barthelemy
Chicago Beach Resort Hotel - Dubai, UAE
The Atomic Park, Hiroshima, Japan
Harvard University
Boston College
Yale University
University of Michigan
Central Park Zoo - New York NY
Louisville Zoo
The Mint Museum
Greenwich Country Club
Flossmoor Country Club
Nike World Campus
IBM - Solana Campus
Yuba City, CA
Village of Roslyn, NY
Mill Creek Park Foundation - Youngstown
The Walt Disney Company (various locations)
National Audobon Society Headquarters - New York NY
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York NY
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge MA
White Pass & Yukon Railroad - Yukon AK
Fiesta Texas Theme Park - San Antonio TX
Circus, Circus Casino/Hotel - Las Vegas
The Delano Hotel - Miami Beach FL
The Mondrian Hotel - Beverly Hills CA
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