Friday 28 October 2011

EDITOR'S COMMENT: Safety first?

Editor of Kitchens & Bathrooms News,
Philippa Turrell,
Scanning tweets, recently, one caught my eye. It read “Most house fires start in the kitchen, so how can we address this safety issue to our benefit”? WHAT? I know it’s tough out there on the high street but have kitchen retailers really come to this? While I understand the company was looking for an alternative angle to traditional sales patter, I can’t see how this could ever help close a deal – unless of course you’re trading in domestic fire extinguishers.
When a customer enters a kitchen showroom, they are looking to create a dream environment that adds value to their home and lifestyle; they’re not considering how to prevent household disasters. The kitchen company retorted that it could help address consumers’ unspoken concerns. Unspoken or unknown? Why would you even bring this to a potential client’s attention?
 If you were buying a new car, you wouldn’t expect the salesperson to point out how many road accidents happen each year, or the number of shark attacks if booking a holiday to the Golden Coast. And if they did, wouldn’t you just take your hard-earned savings and invest it in something ‘safer’?
While I’m no expert in sales, surely starting with style, quality, value for money, or technological convenience would entice consumers. And the kitchen’s desirable but functional features should be backed up with appropriate safety benefits, just as a matter of course.  
To be fair the company did state ‘if it reassures the customer, then promoting the safety aspects of your products becomes a selling point’. I don’t disagree with this, at all. Of course, safety is paramount in the kitchen – and is particularly of concern for consumers with small children -but in a sales pitch should it really come first?

Friday 21 October 2011

EDITOR’S COMMENT: Beware of the double dipper

Philippa Turrell, Editor
Kitchens & Bathroom News
Buckle your seatbelts; it looks like it’s going to be a bumpy ride. No sooner have we seen the back of the ‘R’ word, global economic experts are suggesting we get set for round two. Something about PIGS – I believe – but not to blame the pork industry.
It could spell more trouble ahead for the kitchen and bathroom industry, which has already seen its fair share of business woes, with the recent financial difficulties at the low end of the market -  Focus DIY and Homeform – and premium-end market too at Simon Bray.
There are also recent shake-ups and uncertainties in the distribution chain, Mark Two suffered with the loss of the Focus DIY business, then got hit again by the demise of Dolphin. There have also been changes at Waterline, MD Mike Lawrence having resigned due to ill health, and unspecified alterations to the BCG business. Although, again, it is suspected it may be a change to personnel.
It could also be that parent company of BCG, Wolseley, has listed the company as one of 19 to sell or improve. Although it is unknown which Wolseley companies are still on the hit-list, industry pundits suggest BCG has been included alongside Bathstore. Could this distributor be set to join the likes of Electric Center and Brandon Hire which have already been hived off? And if so, who would be the likely buyer? There has already been talk of a management buyout but could an acquisition by a competitor be far more likely?
Oddly, though, while there are changes at supplied level, kitchen and bathroom retailers and designers appear to be flourishing. Those who are active in the world of social media have been reporting a flurry of orders, many of which are reported as unusual for this time of year. So, is the pull-through of sales just taking too long, as consumers take more time over making decisions to part with their cash? Or is this a retail anomaly, as consumers get in quick, before the next wave of financial fears, with little to back up orders after that?
While I certainly don’t advocate a ‘Chicken Little’ panic that ‘the sky is falling in’, I would suggest we all keep one eye on the future, while not taking one eye off the past. Don’t forget the valuable lessons you’ve already learned and should there be a second stalling, you’ll be better prepared for that icy dip.

Thursday 20 October 2011

Kelly Hoppen talks taps…

Undisputed queen of interiors (not to mention taupe), Kelly Hoppen MBE is currently on-screen presenting Channel 5’s ‘Superior Interiors’. She is guiding consumers on room design, in her signature style, to create simple yet opulent homes. Kelly has not only created interiors for elite private clients, yachts, hotels and restaurants, but has also shared her style secrets in several books, an iPhone App and even launched a Kelly Hoppen design school – where do I sign up?
What you may or may not know is that Kelly has also created three ranges of brassware for Waterfront. The original self-titled Kelly Hoppen collection was joined by the luxurious Kelly Hoppen Limited Edition range, and then KH2.
In an interview, earlier this year, we emailed to ask her thoughts...Well, she is amazingly busy, just follow her @IMKellyHoppen to see...

Kelly Hoppen Limited Edition
brassware for Waterfront

“I simply wanted to design my own signature collection. I wanted product that was very modern and very square, with clean functional lines,” says Kelly when asked what she wanted to achieve with her design. “As I do with all of my product design projects, I designed product that I would like to use within my own interior designs; items that I would constantly search for but couldn’t find.” And so Kelly Hoppen branded brassware was conceived, featuring her design ethos, which she explains as “simple, clean lines and functional”.

KH2 three-piece
basin mixer
The Kelly Hoppen brassware collection features long, sleek, lines, with geometric, flat spouts and handles, while a ‘waterfall’ form is central to the design of Kelly Hoppen Limited Edition. KH2 still boasts rectilinear styling but plays with slightly more detail than the original range.
But taps and showers form just one of the many and varied product ranges Kelly has created, from bed linen to wallpaper, shutters through to paint. However, she doesn’t compare the disciplines, saying: “The tap range is its own entity but works in harmony with my design philosophy and never looks out of place within my bathroom designs.”
And Kelly is now expanding all of current product ranges, as well as having recently published her seventh design book ‘Kelly Hoppen Ideas’ and is already working on her eighth! It is, says Kelly “very exciting times!”
Exciting undoubtedly... but spinning all those plates (Kelly Hoppen-designed no doubt), it's a surprise it's not exhausting, too!

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Lechner back in UK

Despite its decision to pull out of the UK earlier this year, Lechner has now returned with its worktops which are available through sole supplier and distributor Jetstone. Although, it was claimed at the time, by Lechner UK office staff, the decision to exit the UK was based on not achieving enough orders, managing director of Jetstone Verkoop John van den Heuvel slammed the allegation: “Lechner’s exit was not solely based on lack of order, the sales figures from the last two and a half years suggest that it was a steady growth, with a forecast to do somewhere in the region of £1.5million by the end of this year.”
He continued: “If after you have cut your overheads down and it’s still not adding up in a time of recession, and then another dip in the economy is predicted, it’s time to make decision and that is what they did.”
Although the UK climate is still troubled, Jetstone explains it has been able to reduce Lechner’s overhead costs, to be able to reintroduce the worktop brand. John van den Heuvel stated: “When we approached Lechner to look at bringing the products back over, it was, for them an ideal solution as they already operate in a very similar way in France, Spain and a few other countries. Jetstone for them is an ideal partner, we have reduced their overheads to transport into Holland, and we take care of the rest.”
Jetstone already supplies granite and quartz worktops to around 120 customers and used to supply the Moben business nationally. By adding the Lechner worktop offer of glass, solid surface and laminates, it is set bolster the offer and expand Jetstone’s retail base.
According to Van den Heuvel, there will be no difference in terms of delivery, lead time or after care service, and the company has even employed Gary Holt of Lechner UK in a similar position to the one he held as technical sales manager.
And he firmly believes the Lechner brand will now remain in the UK, stating that Jetstone does not need to achieve any sales targets to keep the business: “Sales figures aren’t important to us and have not been set by Jetstone or Lechner, at any level. Jetstone as a company are already successful in their own right in the UK. We do not need the Lechner products to survive or grow. We see the synergy as an extension of our portfolio and not a stand-alone.
“Jetstone are financially stable and a solid ‘Gentleman’s agreement’ between two of the largest worksurface manufacturers in Europe and Jetstone’s absolute commitment to the UK ensures that the products are here to stay.”
Jetstone's UK office is based in Hemel Hempstead.

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Zaha Hadid creates show-stopping Roca space

London is now home to a show-stopping architecture created by Zaha Hadid Architects – no not the Olympic Aquatic Centre – but the Roca London Gallery in Chelsea Harbour. Inspired by ‘the power of water as a transforming element’, it's been created to appear as though water has sculptured and defined the 1,100m2 single floor space.
However, the design is not just for looks alone. Its form is to help visitors understand the relationship between architecture and the design of Roca products. Zaha Hadid explained the concept: “Our work imbues architecture with the intricacy and beauty of natural forms. Using a formal language derived from the movement of water, the Roca London Gallery has been eroded and polished by fluidity; generating a sequence of dynamic spaces carved from this fascinating interplay between architecture and nature.”
Created to be more than a display space, the Roca London gallery is available to a wide audience from architects through to design-savvy students. And it is proposed to be a London hub for exhibitions, meetings, presentations, seminars and debates.
Miguel Angel Munar, senior managing director of Roca Bathroom Products division commented: “For Roca it is essential to have a presence in a city like London which is a benchmark for design and innovation on a global level. London is also of strategic important to our future business development since it allows us to be close to our top international distributors and clients. At the Roca London Gallery, Zaha Hadid has perfectly interpreted all our brand values, as well as our company philosophy in a singularly exciting and tangible way.”
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Wednesday 5 October 2011

Would you Adam and Evie it?

There’s nothing better than seeing kitchens, displayed in their own habitat, to get a full picture of a brand, particularly if they are trying to find a foothold in the UK. And that’s exactly what we did, taking a trip to Ewe (pronounced Evie) new 1,600sq m showroom in Linz, Austria, to see its flagship Intuo brand.

Images hardly do the brand justice. Silky to the touch, black matt glass was shown alongside stylish horizontal woodgrains (shown). And these furniture ranges were joined by booked-matched walnut veneer, which is held in stock for two years should damage occur to the units. Each of the roomsets provided real design inspiration, including concealed wall units, inset stainless storage, and the use of cabinets as room dividers.

But the talking point of the showroom was the Virtual Design Studio, allowing retailers and their customers to try out combinations of door fronts and worktops. This technology allows you to choose the kitchen and worktop on screen, then the computer image is beamed onto furniture blanks to create a genuine 3D kitchen. Of course, this virtual impression doesn't provide textures, but a display stand of samples can help those who need to look and touch their kitchen before purchase. According to Gunter Schwarzlmuller, marketing director of EWE the technology is a world’s first for the kitchen industry and it just could be the future of all retail showroom design, everywhere!

To see a collection of EWE kitchens in the UK, visit the Searle & Taylor Showroom in Hampshire.