Stanley Lifestyles’ factories spread across about 5.5 lakh square feet at Bangalore’s Electronic City. It is here where every single piece from the luxury furniture manufacturing and retail giant finds origin. Built from scratch by founder and managing director Sunil Suresh over three decades, Stanley is rooted in a very straightforward thought – of making high-end and truly international luxury furniture in India.
Stanley’s journey is Sunil’s journey, and started with a passion for leather, as well as for manufacturing. While giving AD a tour of the facility in Electronic City, he reveals that it holds the largest collection of finished leather in the Asia Pacific. He has travelled to over 45 countries only to see their tanneries, but none of these came with rosy beginnings. Sunil started working at age 18, shouldering the responsibility to support his family. He began as a packing supervisor at a distillery, climbing to production manager steadily in six years time. It was his next job, as a production supervisor at a leather garment company – making pieces for the likes of Prada, Gucci, Cartier and Milestone - where his love and expertise in leather took root. Besides gaining an understanding of high-end European fashion and design, Sunil also scaled the company up during his time. “The company went from 40 machines to about 400, and from 100 workers to about 600.. And I eventually branched out to experiment and start something of my own, with leather.” And thus his entrepreneurial journey in leather began producing handbags for women. At this time, he created leather car seats for a friend, which became the catalyst for his venture into automotive seating, operating out of a garage in Bangalore.
Stanley’s first piece of furniture was a sofa, the D131, made after a customer approached him with a catalogue. “He said Sunil, you make such good car seats, but can you make this sofa for me?” Sunil Suresh says. It took him a month to make the sofa, upon seeing which the clients likened it to a diamond (and hence the ‘D’ in D131.) The sofa was a hit, with Stanley having sold over 10,000 of those over the years. Trips to Milan over the following year were further catalysts, prompting Sunil to find the ways to produce high-end furniture in India.
“Why go to Europe for bespoke furniture when you can make it in India,” he says, reiterating the primary preoccupation behind the founding of Stanley. “That is how I have developed my entire team. If you can make this, I can make it too - that is the thought they operate with.” While Stanley creates furniture that is very much international, the pieces come with what Sunil calls the “Indian touch or the Indian magic” – accents and mini customisations that suit it to the Indian market.
Stanley Lifestyles' products span across three levels: Stanley Level Next for the brand’s most premium pieces, Stanley Boutique, for mid-level pieces and Sofas and More for entry-level pieces. At the core of every piece is a thorough focus on functionality, ergonomics and quality. “The most important thing a furniture should do is it should serve the user. It should look good, but it should feel even better,” Sunil adds. This focus on ergonomics is evident in the new product development facility - a section of the factory spanning 25,000 square feet and employing 10 designers and 60 master craftsmen. This is where every piece from the brand is conceptualised.
Around 150 new products are developed each year across the three verticals, and Sunil does ergonomic checks for each of them. Demonstrating a prototype of a motion reclining armchair, he tells AD “So I sit on the product, give them my feedback in terms of where the comfort is – how the headrest is supposed to be, how the motion functions operate or where the glass holder should be..” And each product requires rigorous rounds of research and development, he explains, showing us a position called zero on the reclining chair where one’s feet are elevated to be at the same level as one’s heart - what Stanley’s research tells them is the most relaxing position.
Sustainability is another preoccupation. "Today we source leather from the greenest tanneries in the world who are even carbon positive," Sunil explains. Solar power is used in various capacities through the facility, and various CSR attempts address the protection of forests across the Western Ghats. However, the primary emphasis is on making high quality product that lasts and doesn't need constant replacement. "Genuine leather is grossly misunderstood," he says. "It breathes, it is natural, it improves with use and is fully biodegradable. Our leather products are made to last a lifetime,"
The brand is all in for creative customisations of their product – whether it is the type of leather or the colour or decorative elements, clients are encouraged to pursue the bespoke. This celebration of creativity is most evident in their designer's rooms, where a group of Indian and European designers are encouraged to experiment with materiality, colours and forms. A walk through the factory space can double as a tour of various craft forms – a section dedicated to introducing saddlery-making and shoe-making techniques to furniture, another section dedicated to experiments with wood inlay techniques. Sunil recalls an anecdote of a senior German designer who was stunned by the creative freedom allowed to him. “If he asked for aluminium, I would give him aluminium. If he says I want timber, we could give him timber. So the ecosystem is just really good for a creative mind. They can mix and match and do a lot of things with fabric, leather, stone - whatever they want.”
It is precisely this penchant for experimentation that has led Sunil and Stanley Lifestyles through this extraordinary journey. With 65 stores open across the country, and plans of opening more across the globe over coming years, Stanley’s journey ahead is even more exciting, but one that Sunil vows will be rooted in the same celebration of experimentation, craftsmanship and expertise that guided his beginnings.
Inside Stanley's factory facility in Electronic City, Bangalore. ARJUN KRISHNA
ARJUN KRISHNA
Leather samples being inspected at the Stanley Lifestyles factory facility in Bangalore. ARJUN KRISHNA
ARJUN KRISHNA
Sunil Suresh at the Stanley Lifestyles facility in Bangalore. ARJUN KRISHNA
