2006
First client for whom collective orders exceed £2M (RBS); 50th Oxbridge college (Gonville & Caius, Cambridge); 25th anniversary celebration held at St George’s, Bloomsbury.

2005
Purchase of freehold of office building.

2004
First client for whom collective orders total more than £1M (BP).

2003
First commission of £750K (Supreme Court LIbrary, Edinburgh).

2002
Increasing use of glass, stone, resins and other materials.

2001
Millennium altar, Bristol Cathedral; extension of corporate work into multi-media.

2000
First venture making spa furniture for luxury international hotels (Mandarin Oriental); Start of exclusive production and marketing of Wales & Wales street furniture; website launched.

1999
Relationships established with wider furniture constituency including Bisley, Wilkhan and Vitra; offices extended to accommodate growing business.

1998
First commission over £500K (St Hugh’s College, Oxford).

1997
Major public commission of furniture for new British Embassy in Moscow.

1996
The company achieves ISO 9001 registration for its quality management.

1996 - 99
First standard ranges of meeting room tables and chairs developed.

1994
1994 Closure of Tisbury workshop in favour of strategic partnerships with other specialist workshops.

1993
Development of relationships with blue chip corporations, merchant banks and legal firms; first corporate order over £350k (CSC).

1993 - 96 Projects evenly distributed between corporate and institutional market.

1992
Growing sales to Oxbridge colleges; first commission for Foreign Office (British Embassy in Buenos Aires); first order over £250k (Merton College).

1991
First Oxbridge commission (Corpus Christi College, Cambridge); first exploitation of computer aided design.

1990
Second BES share issue; establishment of workshop in Tisbury, Wiltshire.

1988 - 89
Development of ranges for retail sector.

1987
Frostbite whilst on Tibet mountaineering expedition forces change of emphasis in favour of producing own designs by other chosen craftsmen.

1986
Formation of Luke Hughes & Co Ltd; first share capital issued under Business Expansion Scheme.

1985
First commercial designs for retail sector; clients include John Lewis Partnership, Liberty’s, Heals, and General Trading Company.

1982 - 84
One-off commissions for private clients.

1981
Luke Hughes moves one-man workshop, making one-off commissions for private clients, from Bloomsbury; purchases freehold in Covent Garden.