OKA (also known as OKA Direct) is a British furniture and

home accessories Home accessories are furniture items which are easy to replace and easy to move, and include almost any items that are not strictly functionally necessary in a decorated space. These accessories include such items as curtains, sofa sets, cushions, t ...

retailer founded in 1999 by

Annabel Astor Annabel Lucy Veronica Astor, Viscountess Astor (, formerly Sheffield; born 14 August 1948), is an English businesswoman and socialite who is the CEO of OKA (retailer), OKA, a home furnishings design company. Before co-founding OKA, she was the o ...

, Sue Jones, and Lucinda Waterhouse and owned by Investindustrial. OKA has 14 shops across the UK, together with British and American websites and a catalogue business.

History

OKA started as a mail-order company in 1999, before opening its first shop in 2000. Annabel Astor, her sister-in-law Sue Jones, and friend Lucinda Waterhouse sell products primarily from the Far East. The initial product range was 'rattan' for the first OKA catalogue – which was photographed in Jane Churchill and

Bruce Oldfield Bruce Oldfield, OBE (born 14 July 1950) is a British fashion designer, best known for his couture occasionwear. Notable clients have included Sienna Miller, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Diana Ross, Emmanuelle Seigner, Rihanna, Kelly Brook, Taylor S ...

's homes – followed by painted wooden furniture, alongside replicas of 18th-century blue and white porcelain and a range of

Chinoiserie (, ; loanword from French ''wikt:chinoiserie#French, chinoiserie'', from ''wikt:chinois#French, chinois'', "Chinese"; ) is the European interpretation and imitation of China, Chinese and other East Asia, East Asian artistic traditions, especial ...

furniture. OKA has two flagship shops in the UK that house the entire collection:

Froxfield Froxfield is a village and civil parish in the English county of Wiltshire. The parish is on the Wiltshire-West Berkshire border, and the village lies on the A4 national route about west of Hungerford and east of Marlborough. Froxfield vil ...

, an 8,000 sq. ft showroom and a smaller garden room, is between Hungerford and Marlborough; London's

Fulham Road Fulham Road is a street in London, England, which comprises the A304 and part of the A308. Overview Fulham Road ( the A219) runs from Putney Bridge as "Fulham High Street" and then eastward to Fulham Broadway, in the London Borough of Hammers ...

opened in 2010 with three floors, becoming OKA's largest shop. In September 2011, OKA opened a concession in the department store

Selfridges Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of high-end department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited, part of the Selfridges Group of department stores. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge ...

Oxford Street Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running from Tottenham Court Road to Marble Arch via Oxford Circus. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, with around half a million daily visitors, and as ...

in London, but it closed in February 2013. In May 2016, OKA opened a concession in Hoopers Department Store,

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the Weald, High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Roc ...

. In 2009, OKA’s warehousing facilities moved from Berinsfield to a larger facility of over 100,000 sq ft in

Milton Park Milton Park is a mixed use business and technology park in Oxfordshire, England, operated by MEPC plc. It is just south of the village of Milton, about west of Didcot. It is on the site of a former Ministry of Defence depot between the A34 ...

, Oxfordshire, where their head office is also based. In May 2014, Peter Chappelow was appointed as non-executive chairman, replacing Graham Frost. In October 2014, Octavia Morley was appointed as CEO. OKA reported a 23% rise in online sales and a 17% rise in overall profit for 2013, taking their annual turnover to £19.9m. The company was bought by Italian investment firm Investindustrial in January 2018. OKA made its first acquisition, US-based

Wisteria ''Wisteria'' is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae (Leguminosae), that includes ten species of woody twining vines that are native to China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Southern Canada, the Eastern United States, and north o ...

, in September 2018.

References

External links

* {{coord, 51, 29, 30.78, N, 0, 10, 17.82, W, display=title Furniture retailers of the United Kingdom Retail companies of the United Kingdom Shops in London