Wholesale Furniture Suppliers

Ancient Mariner Furniture is a family-run business responsible for the manufacture and wholesale of handmade furniture and accessories, personally selected and sourced from around the globe. The journey started in 1945, when our Grandad returned home from WW2. He decided to take his furniture from the front room, put it in the shop window and start trading. We have come a long way since then – the business evolved into a wholesaler 25 years ago and it is currently being run by the 3rd generation of the Ellis family. Our love of travel and exploration took us to Indonesia 25 years ago. It was there that we started working with Indonesian artisan suppliers, eventually forming a network of trusted suppliers. We cherish these relationships; for us it is the true definition of fair trade and expressed in a discreet brass plaque on our furniture.

Ethics

Ancient Mariner has created many jobs for communities in Indonesia. Working closely with local craftsmen and women, our aim is to partner directly with the makers and support traditional ways of life. We are invested in helping to improve education standards and skills within the local villages we work with, as well as providing steady long-term employment for all of our employees.

Sustainability

As we continue to grow as a company, we are aware of the increasing strain on the environment caused by the depletion of natural resources such as forests and woodlands. With this in mind, we source all of our materials from government-sanctioned plantations, using only the highest quality recycled Mango, Mahogany and Teak.

Types of Wood We Use

Mango Wood Furniture

As Mango Wood Furniture Suppliers we know we need to use the very best quality solid mango wood for our furniture. Along with this to keep the sustainability we only have the wood sourced from approved forests, where the fruit has been harvested and the tree is felled once its productive life is over. Our solid mango wood furniture ranges are East Indies and our industrial style Old Empire

Mahogany Furniture

We use the very best wood for our mahogany furniture and as always it is all from approved sources. With a versatile range of pieces from a  Pacific Mahogany Coffee Table, a Mahogany Village Square Coat Rack or a Mahogany Village Cabriole Leg Coffee Table there will be a piece to fit your setting. Our mahogany furniture ranges are varied with the French influenced Mahogany Village and the simpler Pacific there will be a style for your setting.

Vintage Furniture

Our vintage collection is made from 100% solid plantation mahogany and has undergone a finishing process to recreate good old fashioned honest sun bleached scrubbed furniture, as part of the hand aging process you're going to see deliberate aging marks, uneven surfaces, differing grain colours and levels of bleaching. With all wood it still lives on and we suggest not placing it in direct sunlight or next to heat sources such as radiators. In dry centrally heated houses it will expand and contract and may cause splits and warping to the timber especially on the tops of tables just like the originals we copied have done over the decades.

The wood is unsealed natural finish so if you do have a spillage we suggest cleaning with a damp cloth and for hard to remove stains use a mixture of 1/3/bleach, 1/3ecover detergent and a 1/3 water and very gently clean the area don’t scrub to hard or you will reveal the red mahogany timber beneath.

All our products are made from reclaimed pine or government plantation mahogany, which is grown specifically for furniture production and carefully audited so we can track and trace the timber back to the tree it came from. We comply with all the EU timber regulations which ensures no illegally logged timber is used. Our factory is a joint partnership and family owned, we ensure the small amount of chemicals used to produce the bleached finish are contained in the finishing area and disposed of properly. We operate a sustainable business which does not damage the environment and is employing many people on a fair wage in full time employment. We regularly visit the factory and contribute towards local educational need in local schools.

Keeping the Quality

None of this commitment to tradition means we cut corners on quality and consistency. All our suppliers are overseen by highly skilled professionals ensuring the finish of our furniture is kept to the same high standard. We keep the village handmade production with the factory quality.

Making unique furniture

Like anything natural, Ancient Mariner Furniture has a distinctive character and this will only get better with age. Every piece has gone through a lengthy process in construction and is purposefully aged to give it even more character.

We don’t try to hide irregularity in our furniture; in fact we think this gives each piece its distinctive character.

Find us

Our UK base is in the small village of Ribchester, nestled in the heart of the beautiful Ribble Valley. Here we have an extensive warehouse, as well as a newly-refurbished showroom with lifestyle room sets.