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

home accessories Home accessories (also termed ''home decor'') are decorative and functional items used to enhance the aesthetic appeal and comfort of living spaces. These items are typically easy to replace, move, and rearrange, allowing for flexibility in interio ...

retailer founded in 1999 by Annabel Astor, Sue Jones, and Lucinda Waterhouse. It is owned by Investindustrial. OKA has 14 shops across the UK, and 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 sold products primarily from East Asia. 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, Charlotte Rampling, Jerry Hall, Joan Collins, ...

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

Chinoiserie (, ; loanword from French '' chinoiserie'', from '' chinois'', "Chinese"; ) is the European interpretation and imitation of Chinese and other Sinosphere artistic traditions, especially in the decorative arts, garden design, architecture, lite ...

furniture. OKA has two flagship shops in the UK: Froxfield, an 8,000 sq. ft showroom and a smaller garden room is between Hungerford and Marlborough; and London's three-floor

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 Hamm ...

, OKA's largest shop as of its opening in 2010. In September 2011, OKA opened a concession in the department store

Selfridges Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of upmarket department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge in 1908. The historic Daniel Burnham-designed Self ...

Oxford Street Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running between Marble Arch and Tottenham Court Road via Oxford Circus. It marks the notional boundary between the areas of Fitzrovia and Marylebone to t ...

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

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells (formerly, until 1909, and still commonly 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 High Weald, whose sandstone ...

. 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 the UK’s largest single ownership innovation community, situated in Vale of the White Horse in South Oxfordshire, England. The Park is located between Didcot and Abingdon in Science Vale UK, a cluster of significant growth, i ...

, 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). The genus includes four species of woody twining vines that are native to China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, southern Canada, the Eastern United States, and nor ...

, 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