CDUK | SUPPLIER PROFILE
PaperStone
composite surfaces are made from
recycled paper and resin and come in 11 colours
our communities through what was a challenging time.” One of the biggest changes over the past 40 years has been the expansion of Corian into the residential and then commercial markets. “We have a growing designer net - work, whether that’s kitchen designers, architects or interior designers, who are more creative than they’ve ever been and more confident than they’ve ever been,” explains Noble. “The range of products that we’re selling to studios, designers and contractors, has expanded. And the products that we’re now creating for them are very different from the fairly simple work surfaces we might have been supplying 20 or 30 years ago.” Corian
of course is a mainstay
product for CDUK. Noble recalls its impact when it first hit the UK market. “Corian provided some real design flexibility that other work surfaces at the time didn’t. It provided some hygiene and well-being flexibility around the inconspicuous joints, which make it easy to clean. “It had an aspirational value that offered people something other than maybe the laminate or timber work surfaces that were very prevalent at the time.”
Versatility
In a separate box on the next page of this feature, you will see projects from retailers showing the diversity of what can be achieved with the material, which can be thermoformed or routed into 3D shapes.
also works with house builders, developers and large retail fitouts and has supplied products to the likes of Starbucks, McDonald’s, Selfridges and Harvey Nichols.
CDUK has just moved to a new headquarters in Leeds, which is where kbbreview caught up with managing director Andy Noble (pictured) to talk about the company’s progress and plans for the future.
Noble joined CDUK in 2013 as national sales manager and in May last year acquired the company from Gary Baker, the son of the company’s late founder Geoff Baker. “I never thought when I
February 2024 •
came to CDUK 10 years ago that I would ever get the opportunity to own the business,” Noble tells kbbreview. “The past three or four years have certainly presented some challenges, but some brilliant opportunities as well. Taking over a business with such great heritage, and then to start looking forward to what opportunities the market might offer, is really exciting. “We’ve got a good team around us that are equally engaged in what we can do and keen to crack on and start making a difference.”
After the turbulent times of Covid, Noble decided it was time for a change. He recalls: “Through 2020 and into 2021, we wanted to redefine
what we were as CDUK – taking the opportunity to look at our portfolio, add some other products, strengthen our relationship with DuPont and keep Corian as the bedrock of what we do, and acknowledge that we work with some great designers, retailers and fabricators.”
Noble saw that the time was right for a reinvention of the company: “There was a big change at CDUK. We wanted to identify what the market wants. So there was a priority to rebrand, strengthen our product portfolio and bring in a team of people who, yes, wanted to work with Corian, but were happy to look at other products as well. And then support
Noble knows how important it is for retailers to understand what Corian can offer. “That comes down to having the confidence to take the sheet material that we supply and challenge themselves and the fabricator network to push the limits of design. We’re seeing much more commercial design that would have previously been used in workplace, hospitality and retail, coming to the KBB environment, where the designers want to offer a consumer something unique, more bespoke, more design-led. “KBB retailers are beginning to get more adventurous. In the 10 years I’ve been at CDUK, we’ve seen our mix of colours into KBB retailers change
dramatically. thermo forming, The use of back-lighting, 47
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