After cutting his teeth as a modern furniture dealer with a small shop in Westbourne Grove, Coakley formed the idea for Sheridan Coakley Products (SCP) when on a visit to a re-chroming factory and fabricator in Shoreditch. He was bringing old pieces there to be re-furbished and on one occasion spotted a space to rent nearby. It was a large old factory building, a relic of the time when the area was home to the London furniture industry. He rented the space and launched SCP on Curtain Road in 1985, with a show of furniture by Philippe Starck that had been designed for Cafe Costes in Paris. Coakley had the good fortune of meeting graphic designer Peter Saville, who was a regular visitor to the Westbourne Grove shop, and he created a logo, invitation and catalogue for SCP’s launch. Coakley had been remaking a number of PEL designs under license, PEL were the foremost tubular steel modernist furniture maker in Britain in the 1930s. He then decided that rather than continually re-furbish and sell older designs, he would get some new pieces made by young designers Jasper Morrison and Matthew Hilton, both of whom he had recently been introduced to. This first collection of designs was shown at the Milan Salone del Mobile in 1986, as part of an exhibition supported by the BFM (The British Furniture Manufacturers Association). The following year, with the support of Giulio Cappellini, SCP were the first non-Italian company to be allowed to present their designs in the modern furniture hall. The exhibition was well received and established SCP as a pioneering force in the UK and international furniture industry.
