Shooting at Silent Gliss

Recently we filmed Silent Gliss at their Kent office in Broadstairs. Silent Gliss is a leading, global supplier of high-end blinds and curtain tracks. Their impressive client list includes The Shard, Hugo Boss and Wembley Stadium.

Entering their large building, I was immediately struck by how spacious and elegant it looked. They had a huge work of art on the wall several floors up. Marketing Manager Sam Shervill explained what a logistical nightmare this was to install. The picture was dramatically unveiled to their employees and it was covered with one of their curtains on an electric rail.

We met the Managing Director Hugh Gage and the Warehouse Manager Simon Waller, and were given a guided tour of the building. What immediately became clear was the passion these three longstanding employees had for Silent Gliss. We were shown into one of their board rooms, which had a range of their blind and curtain installations on display for us. I never really gave much thought to the huge range of possibilities within blind and curtain installation. Whilst I mused over this the production team set up the equipment for the interviews.

We started with the MD Hugh Gage, who was a fascinating man and a real pleasure to interview. He told us that he had worked here from the age of 20 and is due to retire later this year. It was really impressive to meet someone who had been at a company for almost his entire adult life and knew the business and its history inside out. He talked about their steady growth over the last 50 years and cited the importance of sticking to their core business model of supplying high-end blind solutions for businesses. A key area why many businesses fail is trying to please everyone, rather than specialising in a certain area. Having the confidence in your products and business model to turn down customers that aren’t right for you is no easy thing to do. Have a read of his brief interview with Blinds and Shutters.

Supplying a high-end solution means that it is essential to offer a great experience for their customers. Marketing Manager Sam explained how they have a team of Account Managers, both on the road and in-house, who are dedicated to certain clients. She stressed the importance of having in-house Account Managers to work with customers throughout the entire life cycle of their blinds, from initial brief and design, through to installation and after-care.

We were given a tour of their huge warehouse by Warehouse Manager Simon. He showed off their range of machines that manufacture their vastly differing products. One machine was used for manufacturing vast blinds, which were certainly the largest I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen some large blinds in my time. He went on to explain that Silent Gliss are members of an industry body that recognises their processes as heavily streamlined and industry leading. They also pass on their expertise, free-of-charge to other companies. It’s a nice thought, that even in today’s difficult climate for business, businesses are still keen to help each other out.

It was very interesting to interview these 3 people and get their differing perspectives on the company and the challenges it faces. After the interviews we got some great footage of their busy warehouse and machinery at work.

After being very kindly driven to the station by Sam, we were on our way back to the London office to begin the edit.

If you’re interested in the services Silent Gliss offer, have a look on their website here.

If you enjoyed this post, please share it on the social media links below. If you have any questions about our production process or us in general, please comment below or ask us on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.