Teal Living: Their brand journey and design standards in the carehome market

How did this brand new offering from the established British Manufacturer Teal develop its brand and product range to become known for breaking from traditional design standards in the residential care home market?

Sara Jane Farrow, national business manager at Teal Living started the company’s brand journey with a clear focus on manufacturing product ready for non-clinical interiors geared towards helping the elderly maintain their independence within a home from home environment. But translating that into a look, a feel, and image required expert guidance and creativity.We speak to Sara Jane to learn more about the brand journey and the process…

“You can’t forget the huge investment residential care companies make when furnishing their homes, they need to be confident the products will do their job, but also that their supplier can deliver the service they need to support them.With this in mind we were keen to improve the product offering and customer experience in the residential care market by wowing customers with great furniture, exceptional choice, outstanding performance and unique designs, not to mention outstanding service.

Everything we do at Teal is about comfort, support, suitability and sustainability and all our designs are built around this ethos. A well-designed chair that has been constructed to provide sit-to-stand assistance will enable an individual to choose where they want to sit and when they want to get up. They can do this of their own free will without having to ask for assistance. It’s all about maintaining a person’s independence and dignity. Quite uniquely we already had our brand name ‘Teal Living’ which had been developed in-house from our ambition to create residential care home environments that provide comfort and security and piece of mind, not just for the companies who run them but for those living in them, hence the name ‘Teal Living’.

We were looking for a product range that would really hit our message home, make our customers feel special, promote a feeling of luxury and comfort, and endorse confidence. We have a self confessed obsession for furniture which we encourage because we are passionate about furniture and what can be achieved. 

Upholstery styles are a key element in our product range – we only deal with the most trusted manufacturers and really enjoy using the latest fabric trends, it keeps our furniture fun and exciting, and our branding had to reflect this. Likewise quality is at the heart of everything we do – the cornerstone of our business. We pride ourselves on our ability to manufacture and supply comfortable yet luxurious seating.”

Sara Jane continues;

“Our designers are at the coal-face, building, experimenting, tweaking and balancing aesthetics and comfort with mechanical strength and innovation, from smooth curves to dramatic angles all our chairs are a little bit different. This translates into our product and service quality, which is maintained throughout our manufacturing process with accreditation to Quality Management System ISO9001:2008 and Environmental Management System ISO14001:2004.

Operating from a completely customer and quality focused culture it was essential all our product range would provide all round design and build quality. For instance, we offer varying specification and design options such as pressure relief and postural support options, sealed or removable seats for ease of cleaning. Design options such as leg design, fabric options and upholstery finishes such as piping, all built around a solid birch frame.

We also addressed special attention to infection control. Our design team continues to work closely with infection control specialists to help reduce the risk of Infections. Our beech frames have an anti-bacterial lacquer Medicote^™ which provides protection against MRSA, e.coli, Salmonella, Bacillus cereus and other bacteria. Specialist fabrics are carefully chosen to provide stain resistance, waterproof barriers, anti-microbial and antifungal properties, all designed to withstand regular cleaning without compromising the look and feel of our products.”

She added;

“Our products and branding look and feel good with good reason. We have regular design meetings where we discuss what is trending globally in the furniture world; a nice fabric, a colour, or an unusual building might inspire us to put together a group of ideas to develop into a workable piece of furniture. Combine this with the vast amount of manufacturing and R&D skill and manufacturing pedigree then you have a unique challenger brand for the Care Home Furniture market.

We’ve been on a journey and arrived at a positive place. We are now able to successfully communicate we are Teal Living, designing and producing furniture for people to live in.”

CONTACT TEAL LIVING