NEWS | Round-up


Inventor unveils ‘revolutionary’


People are funny and in this regular series, our kitchen retailer recounts some of the crazier moments he has had dealing with customers


Little darlings…


IN MOVIES, there is a saying that you should never work with children or animals. However, us kitchen designers don’t often have that choice when future clients attend meetings in our showrooms with their little darlings. It was the run-up to Christmas. The large plastic tree that we’ve had for years had been placed in the window, and had been festooned with trinkets gathered over time. I had just had a new hand-painted display installed, with an island that included handleless cabinets featuring specially made reeded glass panels. I was immensely proud of it. Mrs de Ville was booked in for a midday design consultation. She was looking for a full bespoke kitchen. She mentioned that she had had some issues finding a kitchen retailer. She didn’t say why. She arrived, flanked by two youngsters, who we will call Damien, aged nine, and Lucifer, who immediately announced, ‘I am four’. She apologised for having to bring them to the meeting and then explained that her nanny had recently taken extended leave. We all sat down. Damien was very quiet and a delight. At first, Lucifer was more interested in the drum he had strapped around his shoulder that he was loudly banging with two drumsticks. The deafening noise was distracting while I tried to ask Mrs de Ville some questions about her kitchen requirements.


I found little Lucifer gleefully smashing glass door panels with a tile sample


After a minute, she took some pens and paper from her handbag and asked Damien if he would take Lucifer to play at the back of the showroom. Off they went, happily, and we continued the meeting. Mrs de Ville then received a phone call and said she needed to pop outside to answer it. Could I keep an eye on the kids? “Yes, of course,” I said. I went to look for them. They had disappeared. After some searching, I found Damien hiding inside a tall cabinet. He began to scream and kick me when I politely asked him to come out. In the distance, I could hear a different loud noise. I raced to find little Lucifer gleefully attacking my new


display, smashing the glass door panels with a tile sample he had found. They were beyond repair. I brought him back to Mrs de Ville who was sat with Damien, looking angelic, as if nothing had happened. I was unprepared for what Lucifer did next. He bolted head first into the Christmas tree, knocking it and all the decorations to the ground, crushing all the baubles. Looking uncomfortable, Mrs de Ville decided to depart with her little demons. Once they had gone, I went to assess the damage to my new display. It was then that I saw that Damien had daubed ‘Merry Xmas’ in different coloured marker pen on the cabinetry. The display has since been repainted and Mrs de Ville is still looking for a kitchen designer.


8


AN INVENTOR from Harrogate has showcased what he believes is the world’s first full-service, vertical bathroom product.


The product is the creation of designer Paul Hernon, founder and owner of Design Odyssey. It includes a toilet, basin, shower and storage space, each of which can be rotated around a single vertical unit.


The product is called Vertebrae and was launched to the public during last month’s Homebuilding and Renovation Show in Harrogate, which took place on November 3-5.


Inspired by space-saving architecture, Hernon reportedly had the idea for Vertebrae over 20 years ago, while studying as an industrial designer. He says he wanted to create a new bathroom solution that would be economical on space, while still retaining functionality.


Hernon continuously developed prototypes and installed a fully working unit in his house in 2020 to prove out the design, plumbing and engineering. After securing a grant from the Royal Academy of Engineering, he has now taken Vertebrae to production.


Hernon believes that Vertebrae could revolutionise the future of the bathroom industry. Speaking exclusively to kbbreview, he said: “I think it really will make manufacturers look at the products they’re designing currently. I am absolutely not knocking what they do – there have been plenty of developments over the years – but when


you look at what a bathroom is in people’s minds, I think this really blows that wide open. “I think the design will certainly cause a bit of debate – hopefully some good debate, and also maybe spur them on.”


Following the product’s launch, Hernon says that Vertebrae models will be ready to distribute to its first customers. Down the line, he also has plans to design different colour options for Vertebrae if it proves to be commercially successful.


Despite pausing projects, renovators aren’t cancelling


ALMOST ONE-IN-EIGHT homeowners have put their planned renovations on hold, however less than 1% have can - celled their renovation plans outright. This was one of the findings of a recent


study by Houzz, who asked around 1,000 home owners in the UK about their upcoming renovation plans.


The top reasons given for delaying projects were budget constraints, the state of inflation, and a perceived lack of project urgency. Out of those polled, a quarter also mentioned


completing a renovation project last year, and another quarter said that they planned to start one before the end of next year. Encouragingly, fewer than 1% of homeowners reported outright cancelling a planned home improvement project this year.


For respondents who had recently finished renovation projects, roughly half said that finding the right professionals had been a challenge, and roughly three-in-10 said that they experienced some difficultly with staying on budget.


Other commonly mentioned challenges by respondents included struggling to visualise the finished project before work actually began, and not feeling educated enough on the renovation process. Houzz’s staff economist Marine Sargsyan commented: “The demand for home renovations continues, but the industry is not immune to challenges posed by a volatile national economy.”


She added: “That said, as homeowners choose to remain in their ageing homes rather than move, they continue to turn to industry professionals for assistance with necessary repairs and discretionary projects that improve their quality of life.”


• December 2023


vertical bathroom product suite


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76