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Q&A BKUQ&A Meet the Sponsors


In our second feature this month highlighting a selection of our BKU Awards sponsors, we’re delighted to hear from Ben Bryden, Sales and Marketing Director at RAK Ceramics UK.


Tell us about your company RAK Ceramics provides a full interiors solution from sanitaryware, brassware, furniture, mirrors and wall, floor and outdoor tiles. This means that we can service both the top end luxury housebuilder and the more everyday functional needs of the domestic client. This is our point of difference; RAK Ceramics is a one-stop shop for everything in the bathroom and kitchen including sinks, surfacing and flooring. We have a 50% market share of the UK


ceramic kitchen sink market and are also the third largest tile producer globally and the largest porcelain tile producer in the world. We can offer retailers all of this under one trusted brand. At the forefront of design innovation, RAK


Ceramics collaborates with some of the world’s leading designers to create breath-taking bathroom collections, with RAK-Cloud, RAK- Valet and RAK-Petit being just a few of our recent designer projects. Many of the collections in the RAK Ceramics


portfolio are designed to be interwoven. While catering for a specific design element themselves, they can work alongside other ranges for a seamless finish, all from one trusted supplier.


Why was it important for you to sponsor an award this year? RAK Ceramics is proud to be involved with this year’s BKU Awards as a sponsor. It’s become an important event on the industry calendar and deserves to be recognised for how it brings us all together and highlights so much of what is good about our sector. There is a great deal of innovation and entrepreneurship within this kbb industry, something that these awards serve to highlight, with manufacturers and retailers all going above and beyond to create dream homes. The awards evening itself is an excellent


opportunity for industry leaders, manufacturers and retailers to connect and the passion of the industry is always very obvious. Being able to share in that experience again as sponsors, particularly after the last 18 months, will be very special. Events like the BKU Awards honour the success of the people in our industry and give them the recognition they deserve, and RAK Ceramics is delighted to be part of it.


What lessons do you think can be drawn from the pandemic? How will they inform your plans going forward? The pandemic has served to highlight many things, not least the fighting spirit, sheer determination and tenacity of the kbb industry. Retailers and manufacturers alike worked together to adapt, adjusting product ranges, altering their selling methods and simply being there for customers, albeit much of the time virtually.


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the RAK Ceramics brand. Our supply chain is also unique, with full UK warehousing meaning our stock levels can be relied upon and projects won’t be hit with delays.


How do you think bathrooms trends will change post Covid? As the effects and aftermath of the pandemic continue to be felt in the months ahead and we all spend more time at home, creature comforts will be important to consumers for the foreseeable future and an investment in making areas such as the bathroom will be noticeable. In the bathroom, luxury, sanctuary and escapism is paramount post Covid. Glamorous brassware finishes in matt black and


You really never know what may be around


the corner in life and the pandemic has certainly been testament to that. While making plans and thinking strategically is in our culture, the ability to adapt, to change our ideas and to refocus also remains key. This is how we can build resilience and make sure that we emerge stronger in the long-term. While we never want to repeat the events of the last 18 months or so, the pandemic has taught us a lot and shown the kbb industry as a whole in a very positive light. The kbb market has shown itself to be resilient


to the immediate effects of the pandemic, but do you see any longer-lasting issues which could cause problems in the future? Two years ago we were preparing for what


Brexit might mean for the kbb industry with no idea of what was waiting for us around the corner in terms of the pandemic too. It’s impossible to predict what might happen next, which is why keeping an open mind, being proactive and being prepared to react is key. Of course, there will be challenges ahead, but the industry has proved itself to be extremely resilient and we can’t see this changing. For RAK Ceramics, we will continue to innovate and to communicate with our customers to ensure that we are delivering the service and the products that matter to them.


How do you stay innovative in a continuously evolving industry? The industry certainly never sits still and neither do we. Our team are constantly busy keeping abreast of trends and predictions of what might be coming next for the kitchen and bathroom, so that we can react quickly with product solutions that fulfil a need with housebuilders. That is all while offering high quality solutions of course, which means our customers can put their trust in


brushed nickel, sanitaryware in soft shades that offer an alternative to crisp white, walk-in style shower areas with low level trays and hotel- inspired large format tiling tick all of the right boxes. Colour is increasingly being introduced into the


bathroom to add personality and all white bathrooms now seem to be a thing of the past. We are certainly seeing more luxury finishes and statement tiles combining with bold colours and pastel-coloured sanitaryware in soft shades. Hygiene and ease of cleaning will also be very


important as a result of the pandemic, in the kitchen and the bathroom. Features such as anti- bacterial surfaces and sensor-controlled touchless controlled technology are likely to have much more selling power and we expect to see increased demand for these in from housebuilders moving forward.


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