Bisley - Our Story | Find Out More About British Born Bisley

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Our Story

Life may be unpredictable, but you can always count on Bisley.

For over ninety years we’ve quietly been creating innovative products that meet the evolving needs of our working world. From humble beginnings as a one-man car repair business in 1931 to our latest innovative Belong Collection, we’ve always been unashamedly passionate about storage – it’s at the heart of everything we do.

Product Pioneers

Today, we combine our spirit of innovation and decades of experience to bring you a curated range of designs that are perfect for your home office or small business.  Discover our classics and latest savvy solutions on the Bisley Shop. 

We are proud of our heritage and independence, while our drive and boundless energy means that we can produce exciting products that suit today’s modern ways of working. While the world may evolve, our passion for design and care for our people never changes.

British Made

We’re a British born business that values its rich heritage, making our products right here in the UK. All of our furniture is designed and manufactured in our South Wales Bisley factory, made to order and with care by our experienced hands.

Unmistakeable Quality

Precision engineered and built to last, your Bisley furniture will keep on working as hard as the first day you got it. And whether you’re on the go, limited in space or have budget to spare, our furniture will help you work more productively, so you can thrive anywhere.

Bisley – helping you work better, anywhere.

Our Heritage

1930s & 40s

Freddy Brown, a panel beater working with luxury cars, starts his own business, F C Brown, repairing cars in a garage in Woking, Surrey.

We move to a facility in Bisley, Surrey undertaking wartime defence contracts. We design and manufacture the first containers to be dropped by parachute, widely used by airborne forces throughout the war. For this work, we receive several commendations from the Ministry of Defence

At the end of the war, Bisley resumes car repairs, but now has a manufacturing capability for which there’s no demand…

…So, we create our first office product – the wastepaper bin!

1950s & 60s

Designed by Freddy and inspired by letter trays, our design icon the MultiDrawer is born. Arguably our best known and most loved product, it has been helping people organise their stationery, papers, coin collections and more, ever since. More than two million of the compact cabinets have been sold across the world, cementing its status as a classic – and with many of the very first models still in use today.

At the age of 67, Freddy Brown decides to retire and puts the business up for sale. His son, Tony Brown decides to buy the company.

1970s & 80s

We launch our first Lockers and Filing Cabinet products.

To meet expanding demand, we purchase a 17 acre-site in Newport, South Wales.

1990s

Bisley launches the under desk Pedestal.

We are granted a prestigious Queen’s award for Export Achievement.

Tony Brown is honoured with an OBE for his outstanding contribution to the British Steel Industry.

Our benchmark LateralFile storage system is launched.

Bisley is granted a second Queen’s Award for Export Achievement.

2000s

We launch many more innovative designs including Towers, Innerspace and Bite.

We expand across the globe with businesses in France, Germany and Ireland by 2009.

2010s

Bisley expands into North America, and we now have a presence in eight countries across three continents.

We are awarded the Manufacturing Guild Mark by the Furniture Makers’ Company.

Tony Brown receives a Lifetime Achievement award from The Furniture Makers’ Company

Bisley invests in an additional 80,000 square feet of factory space in Wales. As a result, we now have the capability to create bespoke wooden products in the same place for the first time!

The Furniture Makers’ Company awards Bisley’s MultiDrawer with the prestigious Design Guild Mark, recognising its enduring appeal and iconic status, sixty years on.

We introduce a new personal storage unit with the Caddy, and also Bridge, the modern credenza that brings together storage, stowage and room division.

Designed in association with Paul Kelley, we launch BOB, our first all-wood modular storage and display system.

BOB by Bisley is awarded the Design Guild Mark from The Furniture makers’ Company and wins the Mixology 2019 ‘Storage Product of the Year’ and is recognised with ‘Best of Best’ in the Furniture Category at the Iconic Awards.

2020

Buddy is launched – storage designed to accompany height adjustable desking, winning an FX Award.

We introduce our new home working Belong Collection, designed to help you thrive anywhere.