George Robinson Kitchens | RETAILER PROFILE
ot only is creating a sustainable kitchen a delicate balancing act, there is no perfect formula to refer to for building a sustainable business. However, George Robinson, the owner of George Robinson Kitchens in Cornwall, and his team, take small but considered steps to ensure their designs stand the test of time and are environmentally friendly.
N
Reduce, reuse, recycle – it may be a clichéd tagline, but it is a helpful place to start thinking about the environment.
First is ‘reduce’. This can begin with reducing transportation of materials and using local suppliers. For example, the wood for George Robinson Kitchens designs comes from local sawmills that is transported to the workshop, which is based just a couple of miles outside Penzance.
On average, the company creates 12 to 15 kitchens a year – with each one carefully crafted by hand. Robinson likes the small nature of the business and how he still gets to work with customers and create designs. “We are a little country workshop, but that is what we want to be,” says owner and founder George Robinson. “We travel all over the country, and don’t just work in Cornwall. We do jobs in London and the South-East, as well as with a few international clients.” The company was started in 2002 by Robinson and his wife, Marta. He has always been in the woodworking industry, as he started at just 16 and has continued cabinetmaking ever since. He now has a small, yet highly skilled, team of four. Robinson is quick to praise each of them for their attention to detail when creating designs that not only meet the needs of their client but also the environment.
Internal drawer compartments can be tailored to a client’s needs
I want us to generate as little waste as possible; I even make it a game for the team to see who can use a sheet in the most efficient way possible
Hand-painted in-frame design in tulip wood
Reducing waste is also essential. Cutting the wood with maximum efficiency is vital so as not to produce unusable offcuts. “I want us to generate as little waste material as possible. I even make it a little game for the team to see who can use a sheet in the most efficient way possible,” says Robinson. The
game, he says, can also reduce costs, as wasting materials can mount up to thousands a year. ‘Reuse’ can have many meanings, but in this context, it is about making sure the kitchen can be used again and again for decades to come. Robinson approaches this from two fronts: first, to create a timeless-looking design, and the second, using durable, long-lasting materials.
The two can sometimes go hand in hand. For example, oak is a timeless timber in terms of aesthetics, but has the added benefit of being solid and sturdy. In terms of carcasses, George Robinson Kitchens uses a mix of either MDF or birch plywood, depending on customer preference
and project requirements. “For longevity, it’s all about the materials we use,” says Robinson. “A birch plywood carcass should last for years. I used to say 20 to 30 years, but it’s longer than that. A couple of years ago, Ikea started to say the same about their kitchens, and by comparison, ours should last 100 years.
“For me, the oak timber we use is almost timeless.
We do many oak kitchens. As long as the design is simple, it will last a long time. With painted kitchens, those can be repainted in a few years and brought back to current trends. I have gone back to kitchens that I made 15 years ago, and they still look amazing.”
No compromise
There are no compromises on quality even with something as physically small – yet vitally important – as the fixtures and fittings. Daro, Häfele and, occasionally, LDL are the main component brands used and Simonswerk for hinges. Quality components are vital, and in 20 years, the team has only had to replace a hinge twice. They may cost a bit more, but it is better to “buy nice than buy twice” – another way to help make that little difference to the environment.
This kitchen uses
birch plywood and locally sourced
sycamore and walnut June 2021 ·
Being a small-scale company does, Robinson says, give it more freedom to implement ‘greener’ processes. “We can recycle all our cardboard or even sawdust, and, being small, we can be as sustainable as possible,” he explains. “That is a tremendous passion of mine that we are not putting a footprint on to this world.”
Keeping up with traditional forms is a labour of love, but Robinson wants to keep the skills alive to pass them down. It does, however, mean that the kitchens are time-consuming to build. The small
67
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 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84
