Furniture manufacturer Rhubarb Seating has announced the appointment of Janinne Taylor as its new Head of Marketing and Business Development.
Janinne joins the business after spending over a decade in the furniture industry, primarily in the education furnishings supply sector, and will play a key role in Rhubarb’s expansion plans.
The company successfully navigated the challenges of Covid, mainly thanks to the uninterrupted demand from the NHS, but over recent years it has diversified its target market and branched out from its core education and NHS framework activities into hospitality, the high street and upholstery services, leveraging its burgeoning design capabilities with increasing numbers of bespoke projects.
Drawing on her background in sales, procurement, project management and content creation, Jannine will be responsible for driving the expansion of Rhubarb’s customer base and reach in relevant sectors by promoting brand awareness and reputation.
Commenting on her new role, Janinne said: “Rhubarb Seating is a talented team of 20 delivering a successful business and now has exciting and ambitious growth plans, which has led to my appointment.
“Bespoke design, quality, value for money and on-time delivery are always at the forefront of what we stand for and our inhouse design team works closely with our customers to make sure they get the best possible solution, within available budgets.
“We are constantly reviewing our supply chain and designs to reduce our carbon footprint and offer our customers best value, so sustainability is a big focus for us, as it should be for everyone. With disruptions to supply chains since the pandemic and Brexit, coupled with the rising costs of raw materials and export costs, we are proud to be a UK manufacturer – with our motto being ‘seating made Great in Britain’.
“From design to delivery, no part of the process is subcontracted, so we control the whole project from start to finish with no reliance on third parties. As a result, we keep costs down and, critically, minimise lead times. How many manufacturers have a standard lead time of 10 days for made to order soft seating?
“I’m delighted to be joining the business at such an exciting time, reconnecting with customers, contractors and suppliers within the educational furniture and FF&E sectors, as well as exploring new opportunities for bespoke and other seating projects.”
David Matthews, Rhubarb’s Managing Director, said: “Having someone with Janinne’s experience, expertise and network on board is a real coup for us. Historically, our success has come from word of mouth and our reputation for quality of product and service. We have not made a habit of shouting about our successes.
“We are very good at what we do, whether it is one chair or a thousand sofas, we deliver and we are proud of what we have achieved. Our team were amazing during Covid, not missing a single shift and they deserve all the success we are having. Janinne is a very important piece in the Rhubarb jigsaw and a perfect fit for us at this important stage of our development and growth.”
