SCP Contracts Founded
1995
An interview with Sheridan Coakley and Richard Leeks.
An interview with Sheridan Coakley and Richard Leeks.
In 1985, Sheridan Coakley launched SCP from a warehouse on Curtain Road in Shoreditch, London. Armed with a bold vision and a background in re-edition furniture, Sheridan quickly made waves internationally, though his initial focus was surprisingly not on the UK. “My first real customers were overseas, Germany, America,” he recalls. “The UK market wasn’t really tuned into contemporary furniture back then.”
But architects were taking notice. They’d drop by the Curtain Road space, a hybrid warehouse and showroom, not yet to specify furniture for clients, but for themselves. SCP’s blend of re-edition classics and emerging contemporary pieces, from designers like Jasper Morrison and Matthew Hilton, started turning heads.
Meanwhile, Richard Leeks was charting his own path. Joining Blueprint magazine at its launch in 1985, he had his finger on the pulse of British design and architecture. “SCP and Blueprint began around the same time, August and September of 1985,” Richard notes, “We were running features on Sheridan and SCP from the start.”
Sheridan first began to seriously consider the idea of “contract” furniture while waiting for a return flight from Sweden, in a snowbound airport with Jasper Morrison. He had just finished exhibiting at Stockholm Design Week, and while waiting out the snow, he mused about public seating. “Why are airport seats just the domain of big companies like Tecno? Why don’t we design one?” Jasper passed, but Coakley returned to London and pitched the idea to Terence Woodgate. That conversation sparked the creation of the PSS Seating System, an elegant, modular beam-seat design that would soon become a milestone for SCP.
At Orgatec in Cologne, Coakley exhibited the PSS for the first time, personally driving over a single-beam version in his car. “We had no idea what we were doing,” he laughs. But the design caught attention. Richard remembers it vividly. “It was one of the standout pieces of the show. I remember telling John Small from Foster + Partners to go and check it out.”
That encounter would lead to something much bigger. Foster + Partners were seeking furniture for the new Chek Lap Kok airport in Hong Kong, and the PSS system was shortlisted. But when a tender arrived, a daunting document the size of a phonebook, Sheridan turned to Richard for help. “I didn’t even know what a tender was,” Sheridan admits. Richard rolled up his sleeves.
“I ended up spending days filling that thing out,” Richard says. “We worked well together, and Sheridan eventually asked me to come on board and run a new department – SCP Contracts.”
That department, initially “a department of none,” as Sheridan jokes, would go on to become a critical division of SCP. Richard brought his publishing contacts and instincts for storytelling into the sales process, transforming how SCP approached architects and designers.
Until then, SCP’s contract work had happened mostly by default, when an architect requested a piece for a project. Richard helped turn that passive interest into an active, consultative relationship. “Before, if someone wanted a sofa, you asked what fabric and what size,” he explains. “But I started asking about lighting, tables, and the whole context.”
The timing was right. “The industry was changing,” Sheridan says. “Businesses suddenly wanted to appear modern. Gone were the days of installing Chippendale sofas and fireplaces in glass-and-steel buildings. Contemporary design was becoming a marker of progress.”
SCP’s influence grew quickly, not only through its own designs but also by introducing Italy’s top design houses to the UK. “We took Cappellini from zero,” says Coakley. “They had no UK presence, and within a few years, we were their top seller.”
They also opened a concession in Selfridges in 1999, bringing contemporary European design to a much wider public. “Cappellini became fashionable among architects and the Notting Hill set alike,” Richard notes. “There was a real cultural shift happening, and SCP was at the centre of it.”
It wasn’t just about products, it was about presence too. SCP’s close relationships with architects and media figures gave it a unique credibility. “Our customers were often in architecture or media,” Sheridan recalls. “TV, music, film, they were early adopters of the new design wave.”
Publications like Blueprint and ELLE Decoration helped drive the movement. “The market for contemporary furniture in the UK was tiny before 1995,” says Sheridan. “Then it just took off.”
In the early years, most projects were small, lobbies, breakout spaces, and reception seating. But over time, SCP Contracts began to take on more comprehensive roles. “One of our early jobs was worth £30,000,” Richard recalls, “That was 10% of our annual turnover at the time.”
Gradually, the projects became more ambitious:
When Tony Blair was elected in 1997, even Downing Street took note. For an international summit at Canary Wharf, the government commissioned Caruso St John to design the interiors and turned to SCP for furniture. “They took two Balzac armchairs for Blair’s office,” Sheridan says. “It was a signal: this is modern Britain.”
As the 2000s progressed, the concept of “breakout furniture” exploded. Offices wanted warmth, character, and spaces to connect, not just rows of desks. SCP Contracts was perfectly placed to meet that demand.
Growth, however, was steady and strategic. “It was organic at first,” Richard says. “But at one point, Sheridan said, ‘We need a five-year plan.’ And that gave me the push to expand properly, new salespeople, more structured growth.”
SCP Contracts became a respected partner, not just a supplier. “It was never just about selling products,” says Richard. “It was about being helpful, knowledgeable, and genuinely part of the design conversation.”
Today, SCP Contracts is a key player in the world of design-led commercial furniture, but its origins are rooted in something more personal – a shared passion for good design, mutual respect, and the simple serendipity of a snowstorm in Stockholm.
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