10 QUESTIONS WITH…
Each month, we ask a flooring industry professional 10 Questions. This month, we chatted to Christopher Newton, Exhibition Director, Surface Design Show.
Q1 Q2
Q3 Q4
What was your first job? Unloading empty beer crates in the Labatt’s brewery
in London, Ontario. My shift was 11.00pm until 4.00am and afterwards we played ice hockey.
How did you get into the industry? I worked for an advertising agency and a client
decided to exhibit in a big trade show. I met the organisers and they asked me to join them. There was no career direction here - it was pure luck.
What do you think are the positives and negatives of the flooring trade?
I’m not really the person to ask, but I love the variety and creativity. I recently spent some time in various Clerkenwell showrooms and was amazed by the colours, trends and innovation. I’m also impressed by the quality of the displays.
If you could hire any one person to be part of your team, who would it be and why?
Surface Design Show is all about design and we try to surround ourselves with creative people – architects and interior designers – who can guide us to produce an event that excites them.
We are currently working with Christophe Egret of Studio Egret West, Paul Priestman of PriestmanGoode and Chris Dyson of Chris Dyson Architects.
Q5 Q6 Q7
Q8
What’s the best advice you could give to someone new coming into the industry?
The best advice anyone can give, in my opinion, is to communicate. So many problems are created by people failing to communicate.
If you could invent any product what would it be and why?
Technology moves at an increasingly faster pace and I know that I will struggle to keep up to date, so my invention would be an app that can keep me abreast of all developments.
If you could have a dinner party with any three people, dead or alive, who would
they be and why? Zaha Hadid to discuss architecture, Giles Coren to compare notes on our favourite restaurants and Simon Rogan to cook for us.
What do you think the future holds for flooring design?
There are better people than me to ask. The quality of design and designers within the UK is fantastic. There are going to be architects and interior designers looking to specify innovative and different materials, colours and trends. The future must be positive.
44 | 10 QUESTIONS Q9
What would you like to see in a future issue of Tomorrow’s Contract Floors?
Interviews with and profiles of some of the up-and-coming designers making their names.
Q10
Vik Vithlani, Sales Director High Performance Flooring, Sherwin-Williams
Protective & Marine Coatings asked: What more can be done to convince the sector of the benefits
of sustainability? Good question! I think a difficulty is deciding what sustainability really means. I was very recently listening to the Surface Design Awards judges discussing the sustainable category. They wanted to know the source of the material, the production process, transport, performance, lifetime and could it be recycled at the end. That’s a lot of factors to consider.
www.surfacedesignshow.com
Check out next month’s issue to see what Christopher asked our next industry professional…
www.tomorrowscontractfloors.co.uk
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