Just received the wonderful news that our Maker Carousel feature for 100% Design 2014 was voted 'Most Popular Feature' by visitors. With an international design audience of over 27,000 and rubbing shoulders with a number of other features from very talented architects and designers, I think that deserves a Friday cocktail or two, don't you? Here's the official show video - happy weekend everyone!

COMING SOON

As seen at the Maker Carousel, 100% Design 2014, this workbench system incorporates a pegboard worktop and mesh storage perfect for communal and collaborative workspaces. With the final designs using birch ply CNC construction with laminated ply surface and custom aluminium pegs, this workbench is currently in the last stages of prototyping and production.

...all the people we invited to show their skills and help tell the story of a contemporary designer-maker at the Maker Carousel.

	Shape Studio / @shapebristol   For demonstrating their modelmaking skills and laser cutting and design service with an array of eye-catching tessellating shapes (above and left), and lending a big hand during build.
	OpenDesk / @open_desk For presenting their ‘Open Making' concept linking designers and makers globally through Opensource, and helping furnish the inspiration and talkspace.
	Florrie & Bill / @florrieandbill For representing collaboration and restoration with the Flocktail chair, a lovingly restored Danish cocktail chair series reupholstered in fabrics from surface pattern design graduates at Flock Studio.
	Hirsch & Mann / @hirschandmann For an insightful workshop on design and technology using interactive lighting design, and presenting their trailblazing works in responsive environments.
	BeatWoven / @BeatWoven For inspiring us with their unique concept in mixing old and new, using digital audio files to create patterns for traditional weaving.
	Maker Library Network / @Connect_ZA For introducing their work with the British Council in connecting UK and South African makers, and their works in recycling and sustainability.
	Bee Very Creative / @BEEVERYCREATIVE For showcasing a stylish, compact portable printer which suddenly makes the concept of 3D printing at home seem like the most natural thing in the world.
	Makers Cafe / @MakersCAFE For taking us through their 3D printing cafe concept, the first of which is in Shoreditch, where amateurs and experts and anyone in between can do 3D printing over coffee.
	3Doodler / @3Doodler For allowing us the opportunity to try drawing in 3D, which made for hours of fun and amazement.
	RepRapPro / @RepRapPro For demonstrating how 3D printing can be accessible to everyone through their self-replicating DIY printer ‘kit’ and an Opensource approach, and helping us get to grips with 3D printing in the run-up to the show.
	Oikos / @OikosPaint For giving the central column great presence by painting in a beautiful gunmetal grey.
	Heal’s Discovers / @Heals_Furniture For helping furnish the eclectic inspiration space with Sand Cast stools from Sam Lloyd.
	Shapeways / @Shapeways For organising the ethereal Stag’s Head designed by Dotsan to help us illustrate the concept of industrial 3D printing in multiple materials.
	And last but not least... Molly Young and Adam Pollard for their assistance with props and styling, Graham Morgan for coming up to take photos for us, all the crew and volunteers, 100% Design for giving us an amazing opportunity once more, and all the lovely people who came to play!

The Maker Carousel concept is a vibrant interactive installation which reveals the magical world of the maker, a colourful journey steeped in experimentation and spontaneity, referencing some of the new technologies, traditional methods and ways of working that a contemporary designer-maker can explore.

Ongoing

Not just an installation but an experience too, the striking Carousel set is filled with inspiration, with a chilled-out thinking and talking space filled with interesting objects and including some pieces we love from Bee Very Creative, Florrie & Bill, Opendesk, RepRapPro and Heals Discovers, as well as a series of workbenches which house activities to dip into designed to inspire thought and creativity, like paper prototyping, printing and modelling, all based around a tactile central 'Carousel' column beautifully painted by Oikos.

Scheduled

Alongside the ongoing activities, we've put together an informal programme of talks and workshops from pioneering makers, all of which invites you to relax, play, discover and demonstrate how ideas and products come to life.

Image credits from Top Left Clockwise: Opendesk.cc CNC stool for the Geffrye Museum; gathering materials for the Maker Carousel; playing with handprinting for Carousel activities; BeatWoven's tribute to Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No.2; prototyping the workbenches for Maker Carousel.

Here’s my dilemma. How can I possibly tell you about what to expect at the Maker Carousel at 100% Design without giving away all of our surprises? But, at the same time, I have to tell you something, so you’ll want to come along...

The theme for the Interiors hub at 100% Design 2014 is ‘designer-maker’ - and we all know what designer-makers do. But with a multitude of disciplines and combinations and infinite diversity in approach and style, a 9m x 9m space couldn't begin to cover what makers make. So instead we got to thinking, how do makers feel? What does it mean to have the skills to think of a new product, design it, make it and share it with the world? How does it make you feel?

We know from experience that the ability to create what you design makes you feel... free! You’re unrestrained, you can try anything, and everything. You’re constantly moving forward, always thinking ahead. You can go faster, or slower. You can experiment, see what works, make progress or move on. Your originality comes from your unique imagination, your unique experiences and memories and skillset. Inspiration is everywhere, possibilities are endless and increasing, innovation is inevitable. Your values and your passions propel you and shape your identity, in an age when the world is at your fingertips. 

So what better to evoke this feeling of exhilaration and liberation than a Carousel? To capture this visceral spark that all designer-makers share - this feeling of freedom, energy, imagination, spontaneity and satisfaction - and give an insight into the magical world of the maker and a taste of the new technologies, traditional methods and ways of working that can be explored.

Maker Carousel will be a vibrant installation which follows the creative cycle with talks, workshops and activities and invites you to relax, play, discover and demonstrate how ideas and products come to life. Think, make, share - jump on!

Contact us if you would like to find out more about the Maker Carousel in progress and other projects, or to arrange a meeting with one of our designers at or after the event talk to Caroline.

Interiors Hub, 100% Design 2014, Earl's Court, London
17-20 September 2014

A sneak peek at our new studio and mini-makespace - a bright, natural space for creating, designing and experimenting in the beautiful outskirts of Bath, the perfect location for us to get the clarity to create while jumping back and forward to Ireland and zooming to and from London and beyond.

Part-studio, part-makespace and part-showroom, we're *almost* finished setting up, but visitors (especially those bearing treats) are always welcome, so do come and see us at Studio 4, The Glove Factory, Brook Lane, Holt, Wiltshire, BA14 6RL, UK. Drop us an email if you fancy a chat.

This will include: generating and realising ideas for various levels of marketing on and offline, maintaining social media presence, dealing with press enquiries, assisting with research and preparation of databases, planning and producing mailouts, working on photoshoots, props and styling, helping with support emails and generally assisting the directors with organisational tasks.

Relevant experience or a qualification in a marketing-related subject is required. An interest in food, cookery, recipes, ingredients, food initiatives, trends, and topics such as growing food and healthy living is beneficial, as well as as an eye for set design and staging or interior design.

You must be highly organised and self-motivated to meet specific tasks set on a weekly basis.

The 1 day/8 hour per week paid internship lasts for three months from mid-June 2014 and will include a trial period of tasks set over a three week period to ensure compatibility with the role. The role can be fulfilled remotely with contact via Skype, email and phone, or from Mette’s (outskirts of) Bath studio.

This is an opportunity to be involved at a hands-on level with innovative product development for a vibrant food promotion and event industry, with a newly-launched product already in use by companies such as Jamie’s Ministry of Food and Tesco and frequently used by leading chefs including James Martin, Richard Bertinet and Paul Rankin, as well as gain an understanding of the food and events industry from a design perspective.

To apply, please email your CV and a short introduction to csantos@mettecreates.com.

This will include: generating and realising ideas for various levels of marketing on and offline, maintaining social media presence, dealing with press enquiries, assisting with research and preparation of databases, planning and producing mailouts and invitations, working on photoshoots, props and styling, helping with support emails and generally assisting the directors with organisational tasks.

Relevant experience or a qualification in a marketing-related subject is required. An interest in furniture, interior design, architecture, art, fashion and food is beneficial.

You must be highly organised and self-motivated to meet specific tasks set on a weekly basis.

The 1-2 day/8-16 hour per week paid internship lasts for three months from mid-June 2014 and will include a trial period of tasks set over a three week period to ensure compatibility with the role. The role can be fulfilled remotely with contact via Skype, email and phone, or from Mette’s (outskirts of) Bath studio.

This is an opportunity to not only be involved at a hands-on level with a growing creative studio whose clients include 100% Design, Linkedin, Jamie’s Ministry of Food and Tesco, but to play a part in a key commission from one of Europe’s most influential design events, and learn about the marketing process around a large-scale event.

To apply, please email your CV and a short introduction to csantos@mettecreates.com.

Creating fun votives from a mix of concretes and aggregates to experiment with their versatility and colour.

Following our impact at last year's 100% Design with the Farm Kitchen, we are thrilled to have been commissioned for a second feature, the Interiors Hub, which will explore the designer-maker journey into interior products and the increasing mix of craft and technology in contemporary design.

The theme for 100% Design's 20th edition is 'Design Kaleidoscope' (pictured), a visual concept by communication designers Thomas.Matthews, that reflects the diversity and history of the UK's largest and longest running contemporary design event by fusing iconic designs from over the years. This clash of inspirations and unpredictable influences perfectly echoes the creative process and will be demonstrated in how we develop the concept for the Interiors Hub.

University College London's exploratory and experimental Institute of Making, smart-product seedbed London Hackspace and the outstanding new comaker facility Black Horse Workshop have kicked off our research into a variety of aspects of makerculture that we aim to examine.

But much more to come soon.
Sign up below if you'd like us to keep you posted.

Continuing our research into the integration of nature and growth into products and spaces, we were inspired by New York's first 'Edible Schoolyard'. Part of a far-reaching Edible Schoolyard project, half of the car park at the Arturo Toscanini School in Brooklyn was transformed into an all-seasons growing experience, comprising an organic garden of fruit and vegetables, a colourful kitchen classroom exploring colour and materials, and a 'Systems Wall' which harvests rainwater for irrigation and houses tools and washrooms.

Designed to educate the children about the cultivation, nurturing, harvesting and transformation of food into delicious, healthy meals, we love the use of shapes and tactile materials, the fresh colour palette and the sense of fun that engages the children without over-simplifying the processes involved. We really see a platform for all the tasty ideas, experimentation, mistakes, mess and imagination a kid could ever want - key to helping form a lifelong interest and passion that endures.

Hats off to architectural practice WORKac and all involved - an outstanding piece of work.

All images © Iwan Baan

Our exploration of all things food and design in NYC, and some other spots we liked along the way.

Truly ecstatic that our Farm Kitchen feature for 100% Design has been named as one of Icon's highlights of the show, alongside Factory at Home by iMakr and Amass by Benjamin Hubert. Thank you to Icon for including us.

Linkedin HQ, London, is now the proud owner of six of our handmade oak trestle tables and herb dividers.

The tables are each made up of two lengths of West Country oak, which came to our workshop, quite literally, as slices of tree. Due to the scale of the lengths, they couldn't be machined, so we sanded, planed and treated them all by hand. With chunky sawhorse legs, the overall contemporary rustic look will definitely give their staff canteen some warmth and laid back style. 

Filled with edible herbs to aid digestion, freshen breath and cleanse palettes, the planters give diners some space and privacy along the almost four metre long communal tables.

We're very proud that one of our bespoke concept development commissions, Brewbot by Cargo, has been featured in Wallpaper* magazine, an international authority on architecture and design.

What is Brewbot? Wallpaper* editor-at-large Emma O'Kelly put it best: "(Cargo's) handsome homebrew kit, the Brewbot, combines good looks with the latest brewing processes and can be controlled and monitored from a smartphone."

The article showcases our role in developing Brewbot's form and aesthetic into the first working prototype, ready for its Kickstarter launch.

We had a fantastic time creating and presenting the Farm Kitchen at 100% Design. It was a real delight to meet so many interesting and talented people, and we’re so proud to be considered ‘one of the most inspirational parts of the show’ by many. As promised, here is a roundup of the products featured by a variety of clever designers. We hope they continue to inspire!

Chop & Change Our very own gently evolving modular kitchen workbench system, designed to give the freedom to experiment with materials, texture and pattern to make a personal statement that expresses individuality. www.mettecreates.com

Bulbo Highly innovative, beautifully crafted and easy to use LED lamps for growing vegetables, herbs and flowers. The lamps combine functionality, advanced technology and Italian design. www.bulbolight.com

Modern Sprout Gorgeous and tactile 'hidden hydroponics' planters with timer and optional solar panel. SO clever, designed with busy urban lifestyles in mind, with the science concealed to make way for the foodie vibe. www.modernsproutplanter.com

University of Bath A nod to algae as a food, fuel and water recycling resource, inspired by University of Bath's pioneering research programme and with the support of Dr Philippe Mozzanega. www.plantresearch-bath.org

Flip & Tumble Warm and fuzzy pods to keep your small edibles cozy and squeeze into the tiniest of spots. 100% recycled felt. www.flipandtumble.com

ConcreteWall by Tom Haga Striking concrete wallpaper, the result of photographing raw and refined concrete walls, raw cinder block walls and graffiti in locations across Norway. We loved the effect of this paper against strong colour in an environment we based on urban warmth and tactility. www.tomhaga.com

Auxano Hydroponic Vegetable & Herb Grower Designed to enable the ever increasing amount of city dwellers to grow their own produce effectively and efficiently within the space constraints of city living. Window-mounting to maximise sunlight, with an oxygenating pump system requiring no electricity. By Philip Houillebecq. www.facebook.com/auxanogrower

Felt Pocket Living Wall 100% natural wool felt pockets with contrasting stitching to create a hanging home for a multitude of medicinal herbs. By Mette. Coming soon - email us to find out when

Vertical Veg Patch Bespoke indoor vertical vegetable garden designed by Mette, featuring a hydroponic system by Greens Horticulture and LED growlights by Bulbo. Made to order - email us to have a chat

Farm Benches Stunning oak slabs on sawhorses lovingly and laboriously nurtured and brought to life by Mette from simple slices of tree. A handful remaining, but maybe more to come - email us

Floraframe & Babylone Lights Greenworks designs, produces, and market functional furniture and interior details with an extensive amount of plants. www.greenworks.eu

Aquafarm Designed to grow fresh produce in the comfort of your own home, this closed-loop eco-system uses the fish waste to naturally fertilize the plants above. www.backtotheroots.com

Taps by Dornbracht With thanks to Dornbracht for providing their 'Pivot' tap for Chop & Change and 'Water Dispenser' for the Infusion Wall. Appliances by Gaggenau With special thanks to Gaggenau for sponsoring the Farm Kitchen and showcasing their sleek steam oven, induction hob and refrigeration products in our Chop & Change kitchen.

As craft beer enthusiasts with day jobs as cutting-edge designers and developers for mobile apps, Cargo decided to apply the same principles to physical product alongside their passion for brewing; to concentrate their efforts and focus on bringing their smart brewing solution to life.

With the technology well underway and the main components for brewing in hand, Cargo approached us to help start Brewbot's transition into the marketplace. Starting with an indepth concept development and creative direction process, we took the idea through to physical prototype by coming to understand the brewing process, the necessary components, and the layout, ergonomics and accessibility required for the manual stages of the brew.

To do that, it involved us coming to understand the brewing process, the chosen components, their suitability, explore the ergonomics and accessibility of the manual stages of the brew. We had to assess the likely audience, what would appeal to them as consumers, how it would translate to a feasible and effective structure that would support the load, be relatively light to ship, and fit within standard transport sizes. We created moodboards, materials palettes, sketches, models and 3D visualisations, followed by the realisation of the creative direction into a complete housing for the first working prototype, creating and communicating technical drawings and managing various manufacturers and skilled suppliers, all against the clock. We shipped it to Belfast to join its inner components, where it was packed for Portland, once fitted and assembled with all working parts by the Cargo team itself.

For the first iteration we used tactile, rich reclaimed wood next to cool stainless steel, to hint at the heritage of artisan beer brought into a contemporary context with smart technology. Our signature 'old-meets-new' aesthetic meant Brewbot slotted straight into the urban-eco Portland scene, where, in the run-up to the Kickstarter launch, some of the city's best taphouses hosted demonstrations and preview events.

Brewbot has so far raised over 90% of its £100,000 Kickstarter target, with four days to go. It has already featured in leading design and tech blogs including Designboom, Fast Company and Uncrate, and has been invited for demonstration to Dropbox and Twitter headquarters. But for Brewbot, all this is just the beginning. The first working prototype marks the start of the story, and once it returns from its US adventure, it will undertake an intense period of feedback, refinement, design and development, adding quirks and clever details, followed by the honing of production processes, materials, variations, costings, logistics - the challenging but fulfilling process of bringing a product to market. As for us, we're toasting Brewbot's onward journey into fully-fledged production with a nice, well-deserved craft brew.

Images by Simon Mills

Over the course of the creative process, the Farm Kitchen Restaurant project from 100% Design evolved from a 180sqm restaurant with theatre kitchen exploring micro-agriculture, to a 252sqm installation including 100-seater pop-up restaurant and inspiration space, with a talks and demonstration area as a meeting place for designers, filled with products we created and curated featuring leading and emerging designers, and the addition of a sponsor in Gaggenau. As the changes emerged, the timeframe reduced. No mean feat, and a few heart palpitations every once in a while, but we did it!

In translating the brief, we felt that micro-agriculture in interior and kitchen design would be the most relevant direction, given that outside space is becoming less available, and more and more of us live in apartments. We thought it would be interesting to explore how growing our own food could be achieved indoors in a way which would not infringe on a comfortable interior, feeling cramped or penned in by plants, and would adapt to our personal style rather than make us adapt to one of the styles often linked to growing ie. all-white laboratory, or eco-warrior.

With the inclusion of the restaurant - eating food being the end of the process - and micro-agriculture signifying the beginning of it - we presented a journey through micro-agriculture in three stages; Cultivate, Convert and Enjoy.

For Cultivate, we considered the three key elements for growing indoors - light, irrigation and space. We featured Bulbo's Quadra LED growlights alongside Modern Sprout's 'hidden hydroponics' planters with timer and solar panel. We then built a living 'infusion wall' with hanging felt pockets and chickenwire, filled with medicinal herbs which we followed into an infusion workspace, featuring a Dornbracht Water Dispenser and delicious additional ingredients and interesting bottles to create instant brews for refreshment and wellbeing.

Continuing with using the height of the wall we hung Flip & Tumble's felt pod planters on ConcreteWall by Tom Haga, loving how they could cheerfully fit small edibles into the tiniest of spaces and complemented the industrial backdrop with bursts of colour. To experiment with larger plants and sustenance, we constructed a bespoke Vertical Vegetable Patch using a hydroponic, no-soil system from Green's Horticulture and Bulbo Cynara lights. With the help of University of Bath, we cultivated live algae as a nod to its role as the future of food and fuel.

As we moved into Convert, we created a tactile kitchen environment balancing the warmth and texture of reclaimed wood with hi-tech cooking and refrigeration from Gaggenau. A new, industrial-feeling Chop & Change workbench housed a pop of bright yellow against concrete, greys and raw wood, and featured a Gaggenau induction hob and Dornbracht 'Pivot' tap. Concrete bar tables showcased contemporary and emerging products relating to micro-agriculture, including Modern Sprout, Bulbo, Auxano Herb & Vegetable Grower, Aquafarm and Flip & Tumble. A fun experiment with flexible piping and LED lights introduced algae integration on a domestic scale, using the bendy tubes to create a graphic feature in the home; in this case the Farm Kitchen sign. Talks from Daniele Prosdocimo of Valcucine, Mark Wilkinson, Cosentino, Piqu and Antonlini took place throughout the show.

The third stage, Enjoy, formed the restaurant - a 100-seater space made up of polished oak farm benches with naturally irregular edges offset by the simple lines of the vibrant orange and fresh white plastic chairs. Chicken feeders containing tall medicinal herbs relating to dining and digestion formed effective and eye-catching dividers for couples and groups, and the stunning Babylone lights and Floraframe herb wall by Greenworks created a striking focal point on the chalkboard wall. Simple geometric fabric and string patterns in wooden frames created the restaurant surround and gently spoke of the geometry in nature and cellular structures.

A multi-level, storyful installation that engaged everyone who we had the good fortune to meet, and we are so proud of its inspirational impact in such a high-profile environment.

Here are some more amazing photographs by our trusted photographer Graham Morgan to record its place in 100% Design history alongside the contribution of some fantastic designers and craftspeople. You can see the rest of the photos here.

We very much want to thank the talented design graduates who added their skills and made the journey to London to help put this complex story together: Sarah Jane Griffey - your illustrative talents know no bounds, you must please show them off endlessly; Molly Young - you are highly creative and full of organisational skills and initiative, a very driven young lady; Ailbhe Ni Caoimbh - you are dedicated and hardworking with a sweet creativity shining through, very motivated and full of energy; and Adam Pollard - loads of creative talent bubbling away under a quiet surface, taking on any artistic challenge with calm consideration and skill. Couldn't have done it without you.

100% Design is the UK's leading interior design show, comprising four sections; Office, Eco Design & Build, Interiors, and Kitchen & Bathroom; and a central auditorium. Each section contains a 'hub' - a central feature designed to spark new ideas, showcase future concepts and inspire networking and sharing of experiences by some of the world's greatest designers. Situated in the Kitchen & Bathroom section of the show, our project will uniquely extend to a whopping 180m2 to incorporate a functioning restaurant and be a beacon for foodie design professionals. We're in good company, with designers such as Benjamin Hubert creating the auditorium, and award-winning workplace designers Tilt on the Office section.

Micro-agriculture is the act of growing organic produce in and around the home with the goal of being self-sustainable and taking back control of what you eat. Essentially, it's design-speak for 'growing your own', but takes it further by harnessing the science behind it, using a variety of light sources, irrigation methods, growing mediums and different technologies to facilitate regular, planned production on a small to medium scale. Some of these technologies make this level of planting just as feasible indoors as outdoors, which is important as outdoor space may be increasingly hard to get our hands on over time.

However, in an indoor context, we believe it has a tendency to overwhelm the design of a space (think crammed kitchen jungles, or a sort of stark laboratory chic) and it shouldn't, it should enrich it, and blend into it, with scientific applications softened and planting carefully placed to pave the way to the ultimate reward; the fulfilment of growing your own sustenance, the knowledge of its purity and nutritional values, the excitement of experimentation, the depth of flavours, the improvement in health and wellbeing, the colours, the aromas and the calming effect of greenery, in the design environment of your choice, where you can live in comfort and style.

Warmth, colour and tactility, with edible and multi-sensory planting ideas, will be key features of the Farm Kitchen. With a rich, vibrant aesthetic, raw concrete, bold colour and tactile surfaces will form the backdrop to living walls, vertical planting and sensory stimuli. By curating contemporary products and introducing experimental concepts, we will extend the science into the experiential, fusing functional growing with a positive energy that creates a vital, social experience full of inspiration for nature-embracing kitchen and hospitality design. We'll create an inspirational foodie environment, starting with the stimulation of cultivating raw organics and the different growing techniques we can employ, and follow their transformation into a diversity of food and drink to be enjoyed in an uplifting space where experiences and ideas are shared.

It will be delicious, and stimulating, and full of quirky ideas and talking-points, and we can't wait to see you there.

Top: Image by Francesco Mattuzzi © Bulbo 2013 | www.bulbolight.com

Above: The current layout of the space

For further information on this project or to arrange an interview please email csantos@mettecreates.com.

We specialise in contemporary and future concepts for food-related products and environments. If you're an entrepreneur with too many ideas or a busy architect or interior designer with too little time, you should talk to me about our creative direction service. Our passion lies in creating a strong concept based on individuality for every project, and it shows.

Gluten-free treats including delicious Moorish-inspired dips from James Food, (pictured above), rich brownies from Simi's Kitchen and sorbets from Marshfield Farm reminded us of the heightened experience across all senses of buying from creative and innovative micro-producers; quality ingredients, expert knowledge, experimental flavours, rustic textures, aromatic infusions, cute brands and quirky packaging.

Rachel and Jo's demonstration of Paella de Primavera was just full of colour and Spanish warmth, and filled our hearts and stomachs with a flavour and vibrancy that revived spirits and sparked imaginations after a long day. The handmade breads topped with haloumi and courgettes and torn focaccia with chilli hummous was followed by lavender shortbread and strawberries and it did our hearts and eyes GOOD. Just look at the pictures.

So as designers with a passion for food, cooking and global inspiration, we can't wait to show how organic food, nature and micro-farming can work for design-lovers, harnessing clever products, interesting structures, lighting, materials and organic produce and expertise to create a contemporary, life-giving interior that fuses nature, health and style. A challenge indeed, but oh, what a tasty one.

We specialise in contemporary and future concepts for food-related products and environments. If you're an entrepreneur with too many ideas or a busy architect or interior designer with too little time, you should talk to me about our creative direction service. Our passion lies in creating a strong concept based on individuality for every project, and it shows.

Exploring raw reclaimed wood, rough grey concrete, and a pop of signage-inspired yellow, together creating an industrial statement for Chop & Change inspired by concrete jungles, warehouses and workshops.

Exploring shades of summer in painted wood, textured creamy concrete and pure, crisp white. A serene coastal palette for Chop & Change inspired by sand, sky and morning sun for a chic shoreline vibe that eminates the outdoors. 

We don't have a passion for kitchens per se ("Who's Percy?" - says my father, every time). We like cupboards and storage solutions well enough (I particularly appreciate the clever, the space-saving and the multifunctional). Worksurfaces are useful because they block the force of gravity pulling down your sandwich before you've finished making it. We need that. But hidden handles, and sensors... no. The very notion frustrates me.

But the concept of the kitchen, and the activity within - that's different. I'm fascinated by the way kitchens represent us all being ALIVE -  life at its purest level, with all five senses heightened. Food, nature, colour, health, art, culture, texture, textiles, aromas, ingredients, flavour, warmth, light, family, friends, energy, revitalisation, refreshment, rejuvenation - all the things we live and breathe. It's where people create, experiment, relax, reminisce, socialise and share. What other room can offer this diversity of experiences in one place?

So that's why we're spotted around kitchens - people seem to like our 'concept first, products after' approach.

In addition, these elements appeal to individuals differently in various combinations. So when asked for a kitchen concept, we set out to reflect the individual in the one space that can embrace them from all angles. Me, for example, I love contemporary simplicity, but I like quirks and details. I love vintage, but in moderation. I don't love a concrete surface because I love architectural materials (I do) or because it's on-trend. I love it because if it's creamy and textured it makes me think of European cities, and sparks a daydream. I don't love fruit crates just for their eclectic charm, I love melon crates because I ate melon with my family in France as a child, a most exotic experience at the time, and I like being reminded of that. I like seeing all my ingredients so I can experiment randomly. I like displaying the graphics on cool packaging, it makes me feel all chic, and I love typography. And I particularly like simple repeat patterns of complex motifs - I think it's an 'order in chaos' thing from somewhere deep in my psyche.

In summary, I don't see kitchen design as working from product catalogues in, I see it as working from individuality out. Each element chosen or designed with care to evoke a positive and personal emotive response. As I truly believe that for a kitchen to really be the heart of the home, it must reflect what's in the heart, and lift it every day.

If you're an individual with too many ideas or a busy architect or interior designer with too little time, you should talk to me about our creative direction service. Our passion lies in creating a strong concept based on individuality for every project, and it shows.

We're currently developing the interior concept for a new foodie venture, a destination store with vibrant, delicious products and a soon-to-be enticing environment, and it's on the tip of our tongues to tell the world why everyone should get a sleeping bag and a spoon ready for the night before it opens.

But it's 'top secret'. So we can't.