[Scaling China] Scotland's Oldest Tannery Just Met a Meditation Chair Startup. Shanghai Made the Introduction.

Scaling China is an irregular column series that explores brands and businesses expanding across China. We examine the factors driving their growth, the rationale behind their expansion strategies, and share insights that might be helpful for others looking to enter into or expand in the Chinese market.

At some point during an event at the British Consulate in Shanghai, I sat down in a chair and my brain did something it has no business doing in the middle of a Tuesday evening.

The chair is called the Aiora. It was built by a Cambridge company called DavidHugh, and it works by moving your body's center of gravity in one plane, unaffected by gravity – producing, in theory and apparently in practice, weightlessness. Researchers at the University of Essex have been scanning the brains of people in it since 2018. The brainwave patterns resemble those of long-term Buddhist meditators. In people who have never meditated. In minutes.

The other company at this event makes leather. Has been done since 1840; their hides have been in the cabin of Concorde, across the benches of the House of Lords, and on the seats of more than 160 airlines. They are called Muirhead, they are Scottish, and they have approximately no obvious reason to be in the same room as a neuroscience wellness startup from Cambridge.

They are in Shanghai, which is where things like this make sense. Of particular note, the launch date of their collaboration coincides with Shanghai Design Week, one of China's premier destination events for the design industry. This year saw over 150 global design leading companies descend upon the city, which provided the perfect backdrop for this unusual alliance to make its first splash.

The two companies found each other here, introduced by SDI (Scottish Development International) and the UK's Department for Business and Trade, while independently trying to figure out China. We spoke with Dr Melody Chen, co-founder and CEO of DavidHugh, Barbara Amono-Oceng, acting consul general at the British Consulate in Shanghai, and Jonathan Lord, head of custom projects for Muirhead and Scottish Leather Group.

DavidHugh: Dr Melody Chen, Co-Founder and CEO

CNS: Why is China – and Shanghai specifically – a priority market for DavidHugh?

Shanghai is the center of branding and new technology. New solutions are always introduced here first. The community here is a mixed background from all over the world, from all over China – people who are open-minded, willing to try new things, and embrace new technologies. That is why we set up our China headquarters here. And if you look at the lives of professionals in Shanghai, life is really tense. If there is a new experience that can genuinely help people find a better balance, why not try it? We open our arms.

CNS: What's the plan for DavidHugh in China specifically – who are you trying to reach and how?

Our target is the high-performance individual. We want to give them a solution that fits into a small window of time – three minutes, five minutes – whenever they need it most. So apart from home use, we see a huge opportunity in other areas – for instance, corporate offices, wellness hotels, spas, sports recovery clinics, psychology clinics, and sleep clinics. We have experience locations bookable through the DavidHugh mini app, as well as demonstration units in premium locations around the city. We are also developing sleep solutions, applying the same science-based design philosophy and new material technology to mattress products that we hope to bring to market within two years. For those interested in experiencing the Aiora in Shanghai and Shenzhen, bookings are available through the DavidHugh mini app on WeChat. For business enquiries, please email info@davidhugh.com

CNS: And the collaboration with Muirhead – what does that represent for you?

We feel real honor to work with a partner like Muirhead to bring groundbreaking British technology and craft together here in Shanghai. It is a new category we are building – flotation furniture, flotation technology – and being associated with a material story as serious as Muirhead's, that is exactly the kind of partner we want in China.

The Matchmakers: Barbara Amono-Oceng, Acting Consul General, British Consulate Shanghai

The Consulate didn't just provide the venue. SDI and the Department for Business and Trade are the reasons these two companies are in the same room. Barbara Amono-Oceng on how that works.

CNS: Barbara! You represent the matchmaking of this whole affair... How did this all come about?

Scottish Development International supports Scottish companies in exploring the Chinese market – helping them understand the opportunities, and sometimes matchmaking them with partners, depending on what they're looking for. In this case, our SDI colleagues, together with the Department for Business and Trade, helped Muirhead connect with DavidHugh here in Shanghai, really bringing together their two desires to find each other. And we've seen the outcome today. This beautiful collaboration.

Muirhead: Jonathan Lord, Head of Custom Projects

CNS: For readers who don't know Muirhead, quickly – who are you?

We are the only British tannery remaining in the UK. Making leather for over 180 years, the ninth generation of family ownership. You'll find our hides on the seats of the House of Lords, the QE2, the Orient Express, Concorde – and today on more than 160 airlines, including British Airways, Singapore Airlines, Emirates, and China Eastern. On the automotive side: Polestar, McLaren, Aston Martin. Around 600 people are employed in Glasgow. Very small sales team globally. These brands become like family.

CNS: What brought you to China, and how did the DavidHugh connection happen?

I wanted to develop partnerships here in hospitality, luxury goods, furniture manufacturing – beyond our established aviation and automotive base. But I was aware China is a very big place, and arriving without the right context is a risk. Before I traveled, I reached out to SDI, just to ask a few questions. And ironically, they introduced me to another British manufacturer: DavidHugh. I hadn't been looking for a collaboration partner. But when I met Melody and the team, it became clear there was something real here. We're both from the UK. We met in Shanghai. Now we're trying to build a story in China together.

CNS: What was it about DavidHugh that made the fit obvious?

What makes DavidHugh interesting is that it's high luxury, with very strong sustainability credentials, and wellbeing at the absolute forefront of the business. Those things go hand in hand with what Muirhead represents. We've spent two decades reducing the carbon intensity of our leather by 90 percent. We care deeply about what our material means beyond its surface. A collaboration with DavidHugh is coherent – our leather belongs in an object that is itself about human wellbeing and considered craft. It's a nice story. And it's a strange one, in a good way: we're both from the UK, we met in Shanghai, and now we're trying to build something in China together.

CNS: Melody told us why this collab is focusing on China, now why launch specifically in Shanghai?

Shanghai is the obvious choice. It's China's leading city in so many categories. Finance. Fashion. Innovation especially. But it works out perfectly that we were able to time our collaboration launch to coincide with Shanghai Design Week which I am staying for throughout the weekend.

CNS: What's the ambition from here?

The aviation and automotive relationships in China are established – China Eastern is already a client, and Polestar too. But hospitality and luxury goods are what I'm here to develop, and that takes time and the right introductions. What I'd say to anyone reading this: if you're from a Chinese luxury brand and you want to have a conversation, I fully welcome it. We need a few more friends here.

Reader Perks: We're giving away five pairs of tickets for a 40-minute "Floatation Relaxation Experience" at one of DavidHugh's experience centers. Mention someone you know in the comments who needs to relax a little for a chance to win a pair of tickets. We're giving away FIVE pairs.

For those interested in experiencing the Aiora in Shanghai and Shenzhen, bookings are available through the DavidHugh mini app on WeChat. For business enquiries, please email info@davidhugh.com. Jonathan Lord can be reached at jonathan.lord@muirhead.co.uk.

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