Interview: Neptune's Fred Horlock on craftsmanship, quality and growing the brand

As lifestyle brand Neptune celebrates its 30^th anniversary, design director Fred Horlock talks to Amelia Thorpe about the company’s ‘whole home’ strategy and plans for growth.

Ask Fred Horlock, Neptune’s design director, what makes the brand stand out and he is quick to reply. “We are genuinely ‘whole home’, rather than product or category specific,” he says. “When you use Neptune, you can do every room in the house, unlike a lot of our competitors, such as kitchen companies, who rely on someone else to do the rest of the home.”

Today, Neptune offers a full range of kitchens, furniture, lighting, paint, upholstery, textiles and accessories, and has an annual turnover of around £68million and 30 stores in the UK. Celebrating its 30^th anniversary this year, Neptune was founded by John Sims-Hilditch and Giles Redman, who continue to own the company with their families, retaining majority equity position today. “They developed a freestanding hammock, sold 5,000 in the first year and it was an instant success,” says Horlock. Garden furniture came next, before the introduction of 5 freestanding interior pieces in 2006.

Renowned interior designer and John’s wife, Emma Sims-Hilditch, came on board to “develop a creative lens across the business” as it began to grow into more of a lifestyle brand, with an emphasis on timeless design. Horlock, who joined the company in 2014, drives forward the calm, curated aesthetic for which the brand has become so well known. “We want to produce modern day classics with furniture that will last for 20, 30, 40 years,” he notes.

The bulk of Neptune’s furniture has been made in its own factory in China. “This allows us to produce the quality we want,” he explains. “Manufacturing in China is sometimes viewed negatively, but China will make whatever quality you ask them to make, so if you want something cheap and cheerful, they can do that, but if you want something high precision, they can also produce to that standard.” Bespoke elements for its kitchens, such as custom sizes, are made in Neptune’s own workshop in Swindon.

About one third of the business is generated by its kitchen offering, aimed at the premium to mid sector. Neptune’s first kitchen launch in a decade, a freestanding collection called Borough, was launched in the autumn. “Our quality is what sets us apart from the majority of the high-street kitchen retailers,” says Horlock. “We don’t use chipboard or MDF, we use hardwood plywood for the main construction panels with door frames made in poplar or oak.”

Next comes the Broadway outdoor kitchen, launching in May. Initially available in Cactus paint colour, the design is made from marine grade plywood and Accoya, available in 7 cabinet styles. "It has the Neptune classic kitchen feel, but re-engineered for the outside,” he says. We can also expect further additions to the freestanding kitchen collection in 2027.

Bathrooms and bedrooms make up about 10% of sales in total. “Painted and oak washstands do very well for us,” he says, noting that several new mirror options and three more IP44 rated wall lights will launch in September. In bedrooms, the Frome oak collection has just launched, with two new headboard silhouettes and a new oak bed with upholstered headboard, Parisian in style, coming in September.

More growth comes from new store openings, including Harrogate in the summer and one in Fenwicks department store in Newcastle, plus furniture assortments in selected John Lewis stores. The emphasis, says Horlock, is on long term, steady growth. “We don’t want to do what everyone else does,” he says. “There really aren’t any other ‘whole home’ lifestyle brands that manufacture their own product, unless you count Ikea which is entry level and huge, and Nitori, which is like an Asian equivalent,” he says. “To the best of my knowledge, we are the only premium brand.”