New Tableware Launched to Stimulate Children’s Development

Tableware plays ‘dress up’ in a limited-edition luxury capsule collection created for children by Von Gern Home and Dragons of Walton Street.

Dragons of Walton Street has been creating lifetime childhood memories for over 40 years. One person who can attest to this is Kira Faiman – Director of Von Gern Home – they have had an ongoing relationship with Kira since they created a magical space for Kira’s own child. Kira and Dragons of Walton Street have long since shared a friendship and the philosophy that every day should be an occasion. This is a philosophy that underpins Kira’s New York based tableware company and one which we agree should also extend to children. This is the genesis of the magical tableware collaboration between Von Gern Home and Dragons of Walton Street.

Juniors more and more often are being introduced to an ever-widening array of foods through campaigns like ‘Culinary Kids’ which encourages parents to think twice about the food offered to their children via restaurants etc. Finding new and exciting ways to engage children with what is on their plates is now a well-supported concept with parents and the food industry. In the UK national campaign to teach children to cook at least 5 healthy meals before they leave home was launched in Bristol recently. There has never been a better time for the junior foodie to engage fully with the pleasure of great food and everyday dining experiences.

Being double-sided, the placemats offer young children creative input through dynamic versatility, enhancement of choice and creating an opportunity to stimulate conversation. The unified theme of each mat presents further impetus for cohesive storytelling. Both the placemats and the tissue boxes are made of robust and hygienic faux leather specifically for the sticky fingers!

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A kitchen by ‘Kitchen Retailer of the Year’ 2021 KBB Awards winner The Myers Touch was designed within a period home in Southsea, Hampshire.

The client had previously lived in the US and loved Sub Zero & Wolf Appliances – she wanted to incorporate them into a pure and modern combined look kitchen with American-style bench seating.

Designer Keith Myers worked with the client to create a kitchen that would create the ‘wow factor’, so they could cook and entertain for their large extended family. Danetti bench seating was installed against the island unit.

SieMatic classic SC10 range cabinetry mixed with SieMatic S2 handleless kitchen range were included in the design, as well as Silestone and Dekton worktops and a Kohler Sink & Tap.

Photography credits: Phil Green

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In this week’s interview with 2021 SBID Awards winners of the KBB Design category, Extreme Design discuss the evolution of clients’ wishes and what role kitchens play in homes today, as well as their approach to designing interiors that reflect the client’s personal style.

How important is it to enter the SBID Awards & receive industry recognition for your work? What are the benefits?

The SBID awards create awareness for outstanding achievement and celebrates design creativity and excellence worldwide. It allows designers to push the boundaries of design and bring global recognition to those with good design practices within the industry. At Extreme, it is our vision to make an impact on design in this country, and the awards are a fantastic opportunity to showcase our work.  An SBID award carries credibility and helps build our reputation amongst clientele hoping to engage with Extreme for their unique and special projects.

What do you think made this particular design an award winner?

At Extreme, we believe that every great design starts with an inspiration. This belief and design approach gave us the freedom to design every detail of the client’s kitchen to suit their vision. The elegance, sophistication and character of Art Deco design had captured their imagination and would form the basis of the design narrative. Influenced by The Churchill Bar and Terrace at the Hyatt Regency in London, the scheme works as a functional family living space and exudes luxury and exhibits a firm nod towards the clients love of everything art deco. The design transcends material and function and creates a one-of-a-kind space where every detail reflects our client.

As experts within the kitchen design sector, what do you think has been the biggest evolution in the kitchen space over the last decade? What external factors do you think have played a role in this shift?

Over the last decade we have seen clients move away from interiors which follow a common style or trend and look for something more personal, something which is a direct reflection of them and their life story. Since the 90’s the kitchen has been the centre of every household, and our clients are spending more time than ever in these multipurpose rooms. The clients story dictates the design direction, and we are selecting materials and finishes based on emotional connection and not just look and feel. Once a utilitarian design decision, kitchens now truly reflect the homeowner’s life, style and taste.

How do you make sure a design reflects the clients’ individuality and personal stories? Do you have a specific approach and how do you balance this with your own design style?

The client’s story is at the heart of every design, and it stems from our belief that a design reflects a life lived, not just a lifestyle. We approach each project with a fresh perspective, bringing new ideas founded from our wealth of experience. The details we gather go beyond just practical and functional requirements. We take time to listen, understand and connect with how our clients want to feel in their new environment. Part of what makes Extreme so different is the design freedom that we bring to every project. Each design is individual, so we don’t limit ourselves or our clients to set styles or ranges. Each design begins as a blank canvas and evolves to reflect each client’s personal design story.

Now that you’ve won an SBID Award, what are the next steps? Is there anything new you are excited to be working on?

The awards have given us the belief and drive to continue developing our design approach, knowing that we have a formula that realises some of the most individual and exciting projects in this country and worldwide.

We are constantly working on what’s new and what’s next! And we look forward to sharing this with you in the years to come.

What advice can you give to young designers starting out in the design industry?

Open your eyes to the world; you can find inspiration in everything. Listen to your clients, stay focussed and don’t be afraid to push your client to the edge of their boundaries. Everyone is different, so listen to your client’s story and use this to fuel your creativity and create a design that is truly special.

Questions answered by Jade Jones, Design Manager, Extreme Design.

This London pied-à-terre is a masterclass in open-plan living. Despite its relatively compact proportions (5m x 7m), the homeowners wanted to slot in a well-equipped kitchen, dining and living areas. Charlie Smallbone of Ledbury Studio was tasked with designing a kitchen that would both furnish the space and enhance its overall look.

To ensure the kitchen is a seamless extension of the living area, Charlie opted not to install wall cupboards above the base cabinets. This created space for floating glass shelves, allowing the homeowners to weave in a touch of character with plants and decorative objects. A hanging rail was also added, retaining the much-coveted open feel whilst keeping kitchen paraphernalia close to hand.

Charlie’s greatest challenge was to fit all the functional aspects of a kitchen into the single wall of furniture. “It was tricky but I am happy with the final arrangement, which incorporates a lot of storage as well as all the essentials,” he explains. “It features a stone sink and Miele induction hob sandwiched between a tall, integrated fridge-freezer and larder cupboard at one end, and a dropped-down worktop with storage above it at the other.”

The cupboards themselves feature pewter fronts, which speak to the homeowners’ eclectic style. Made from sheet metal that is hand textured with hammers and heat, and given an aged patina using acid, the surface is then sealed with lacquer so that it stands the test of time. The cupboards are finished with concave stainless-steel handles that have been blasted to dull the shine and darken their appearance.

Bianco Macaubas Quartzite was specified for the worktop; a hardwearing but stunning natural stone with rich marble-esque veining. Charlie paired this with a Verre Eglomise splashback, whereby pure gold leaf was applied to the reverse of toughened glass and antiqued. Not only does it look stunning, but its reflective properties help to bounce light around the room and increase the feeling of space.

Ledbury Studio kitchens start from £50,000.

This week’s instalment of Project of the Week interior design series features an open plan residential space design by 2021 SBID Awards Finalist, Nicola Burt Interior Design.

The company was tasked with transforming a tired separate kitchen, living and dining room into a warm, slightly opulent open plan space, that reflected the 1930s built of the house.

They achieved this by removing the structural wall separating the kitchen from the living area, and installing a new emerald green kitchen and island to integrate the spaces together whilst still retaining the separate zones. The warm, opulent feel was enhanced by the orange, green and blue velvet tones of the upholstered furniture together with the wood parquet floor.

Wherever possible Nicola Burt Interior Design team reused existing furniture and accessories, to minimise waste and the impact on the environment.

What was the client’s brief? 

The brief from the client was to transform a tired and awkward separate kitchen, living and dining room into an open plan kitchen/dining/living space.

The client wanted a room where she could entertain as well as cook and relax. She also wanted to be able to look out onto her garden, so our team installed a wall of glazed Crittall Bifold doors, which retained that 1930s feel.

What inspired the design of the project?

The client wanted to be bold and use colour – she has some artworks by Louis Turpin in the space which are incredibly vibrant and colourful, so I drew inspiration from those for the scheme. The artwork inspired the choice of emerald green for the kitchen cabinetry.

We then paired the green kitchen with an orange velvet scalloped sofa and armchair, and a blue-green swivel chair and bar stool to enhance the vibrancy and opulent feel. I was keen to re-use existing furniture where possible – we retained the client’s colourful Christian Lacroix rug which worked perfectly with the scheme, and the client’s existing dining chairs. Our team also upholstered her piano stool in a beautiful vibrant offcut of woven Ghanaian fabric.

The Crittall Bifold doors to the garden, touches of gold in the handles and tap, scalloped furniture, Tristan and Isolde table lamps, all referenced the warm Art Deco feel the client wanted in her 1930s home.

What was the toughest hurdle your team overcame during the project?

A major challenge was working with COVID restrictions, something that I had never encountered in my 16 years working as an interior designer. We began planning the project in March 2020, but then almost immediately the first complete lockdown came into force. I had to pivot really quickly to ensure we could keep working, so I advised the client that we could continue to plan the new space remotely until we were allowed to meet face-to-face on site. This would mean we would be ready to go as soon as restrictions were lifted.

As soon as we were permitted, our team appointed an architect in to survey and draw up plans, a structural engineer to survey and do drawings for the steels, contractors to price for the work, and Building Control to inspect. After the client signed off the kitchen design we could then place the order for the furniture, with fingers crossed there would be no delays due to COVID disrupting supply chains.

The building work was booked to start in September 2020 and when it began the contractor discovered that the original frame of the property had been constructed from poured concrete, which was incredibly solid and heavy to remove. This delayed the work slightly, but we completed the project at the end of October.

It was stressful but we were incredibly lucky to get the major building work done and completed in between the various lockdown restrictions.

What was your team’s highlight of the project?

The first highlight was seeing the client’s joy when the scheme came together and how thrilled she was with her new space.

The second was being nominated as a finalist in the SBID Awards. There was such a great reaction to this project in the press and social media so I thought I would enter it into the awards. I never thought for a minute it would be nominated and I am so thrilled. It just confirms to me that you should be brave and trust your instincts with your design ideas!

Why did you enter this project into the SBID Awards?

I entered the SBID Awards as they are so prestigious in the industry, and the judges are of the highest calibre. To be nominated as a finalist has been such a boost to my confidence, reputation and business, and to (hopefully!) win would be even more amazing, not only for me but as an inspiration to all the interior design students I teach.

Questions answered by Nicola Burt, Interior Designer, Nicola Burt Interior Design.

Project of the Week

This week’s instalment of the #SBIDinspire interior design series features a luxury interior design which reflects the elegance and exclusiveness of its location. Since the end of the 19th Century, Gardone has been one of the most exclusive places on Lake Garda. Landau + Kindelbacher, used a range of colours rich in contrast, drawing influence from traditional stimuli: the aquamarine of Lake Garda, the painted timbers of the elegant Riva boats as well as the lemon-yellow touches from the surrounding lemon orchards.

The high-class furnishings and fittings and the incomparable setting beside Lake Garda, assure the attraction of the project. From everywhere on the site, one has a fantastic view of the lake. Both the architecture and the interior design have succeeded, with their individual designs for the luxury villas, in meeting the highest demands of the future owners.

SBID Awards Category: Residential Design Over £1 Million Sponsored by THG Paris

Practice: Landau + Kindelbacher Architekten – Innenarchitekten

Project: Villa at Lake Garda

Location: Brescia, Italy

What was the client’s brief? 

The brief was to design a modern luxury Villa on this breathtaking building site at Gardone Sopra overlooking the Lake Garda catching in all those beautiful views over the landscape. The goal was to fuse interior design, architecture and landscape design into one consistent Project.

What inspired the interior design of the project? 

The inspiration came from all the southern colors you will find around the Lake Garda, the lemon trees with their Limonaia structures and the mahogany RIVA Yachts and finally the color of the water and the sky.

What was the toughest hurdle your team overcame during the project?

The very short timeline and just to get the design team physically on the building site, taking the James Bond proven Gardesana route on the east bank of Lake Garda.

What was your highlight of the project?

The whole design team was invited to join the Grand Opening Party of the Villa and we could see that all our ideas had worked out perfectly.

Why did you enter the SBID Awards?

The quality of the SBID Awards is really outstanding and we think it is one of the most prestigious awards within the interior design community.

Questions answered by Gerhard Landau, Managing Partner, Landau + Kindelbacher.

We hope you feel inspired by this week’s luxury design! Let us know what inspired you #SBIDinspire

If you missed last week’s Project of the Week, featuring a minimalist residential extension, click here to see more.

Project of the Week

This week’s instalment of the #SBIDinspire interior design series features a light and airy residential design. This large and comfortable house had already been extended 10 years earlier, but this was demolished to provide an even larger replacement, featuring a study area, extra living space and a small service kitchen hidden behind a full-height sliding door.

In keeping with the calm and minimal tone requested by the client, SBID Accredited Design Practise, Richard Dewhurst Interior Architecture chose a muted colour palette was used throughout the house. The odd burst of colour was, however, tactfully used in the smaller spaces of the house, such as the bathroom and study.

Practice: Richard Dewhurst Interior Architecture

Project: Balham House Extension

Location: Balham, United Kingdom

What was the client’s brief? 

The brief was to design a light and airy rear extension that didn’t simply feel like a white box grafted onto the back of the house and that was both calming and minimal. She also wanted a very impressive and modern kitchen, but one that was easy to use and could hide the mess as she readily admitted that cooking wasn’t really her thing!

In general, my client had quite a conservative approach to the project, but thankfully she was very happy for me to get creative with the guest loo, which proved to be fun.

What inspired the interior design of the project? 

The main driving factor behind this design was my enthusiasm for clerestory windows and the calmness and clarity of light they bring to a space. Having seen plenty of them in other buildings, I was excited to finally get the opportunity to build one.

What was the toughest hurdle your team overcame during the project?

The clerestory window feature was more complex to design and detail than I’d originally thought, meaning that I had to work closely with the window manufacturer and structural engineer to ensure that it functioned well and looked good.

Also, I desperately tried to convince my client that she should replace her sixty-foot long fake grass lawn with the real thing, as I’m getting increasingly frustrated and upset by the environmental damage this stuff causes to the local ecology, especially when considering the role city back gardens play in creating wildlife corridors in urban areas. Unfortunately, this was a battle I couldn’t win.

What was your highlight of the project?

I was so pleased that my client loved the clerestory window and the guest loo as it always surprises her guests; they simply don’t expect to see the stretch ceiling and seamless walls!

Questions answered by Richard Dewhurst, founder, Richard Dewhurst Interior Architecture.

We hope you feel inspired by this week’s residential design! Let us know what inspired you #SBIDinspire

If you missed last week’s Project of the Week, featuring a unique facility designed to surpass all expectations of a traditional care home, click here to see more.

Project of the Week: SBID Awards Finalists 2019

This week’s instalment of the #SBIDinspire interior design series features Interior design that synthesises Eastern and Western styles. The interior design plan of this luxury property unites the Eastern and Western classical elements, giving it a bold and alluring character. The captivating Roman vault structure built at the entrance creates impact thanks to its remarkable detail and decor. The achromatic colours soften the visual impact, the soft whites, which serves the main colours, blend with oriental natural landscape scenes. YZ Environment Design used decorative details diversely to incorporate elements from the oriental architectural while infusing the Western design style with ink-based art, creating a blended and innovative Chinese classical style.

SBID Awards: Residential Design Over £1M finalist sponsored by THG Paris

Practice: YZ Environment Design

Project: Synthesis of Eastern-and-Western Classical Styles

Location: Beijing, China

What was the client’s brief? 

The proprietor is China Resources Group, a respected developer in China. This case is a model room of high-end luxury apartments, located near Beijing Medical University – which is an excellent location. The main customers have rich wealth and knowledge. The proprietor’s request is to make the clients feel elegant and to provide a unique experience.

What inspired the interior design of the project? 

Chinoiserie is a decorative style in Western art, furniture, and architecture, especially in the 18th century, characterised by the use of Chinese motifs and techniques. European countries absorbed the Chinese culture; particularly the symbols and cultural elements, however, the meaning and value of the elements are often ignored. Such surface-level cultural input made “Chinoiserie” not able to be widely applied and it eventually disappeared into the history of design. Although the Chinoiserie style represents the Europeans’ yearning for China, the imitation of Chinese art crafts and the shallow understanding of the culture make it hard to get deep into and extend the Chinese culture. People just see what they want to see about Chinese culture instead of the whole picture of it. Capturing the essence of Chinoiserie therefore was a key inspiration for this project’s design scheme.

What was the toughest hurdle your team overcame during the project?

The toughest challenging was how to let the engineers and product processing staff understand the concept of the theme and intrinsic classic detail to create a transformation which is great enough to compete with the classics. The design involved many important craft processes such as hand-printed wallpaper, stairs, and mosaic with a large number of sketches and 3D drawings to develop.

What was your team’s highlight of the project?

Visitors are introduced to classics from different periods and different regions when they enter the property. There are design distinctions and differences among the classic features, but they have been curated to blend so naturally and elegantly they are not noticeable. It gives people a whole new feeling. At the same time, exquisite and rigorous technologies have helped provide technical support to creating these new classics.

Why did you enter the SBID Awards?

We found SBID Award is a high-quality competition when we entered the award in 2015 for the first time. The judges are concerned not only about technology, materials and the undergoing changes in them, but also value highly culture and art and human spirit.

Questions answered by YZ Environment Design

We hope you feel inspired by this week’s Residential design! Let us know what inspired you #SBIDinspire

If you missed last week’s Project of the Week featuring a Victorian family home with modern, industrial aesthetic & open plan living, click here to see more.

SBID Awards 2019 | Residential Design Over £1M finalist sponsored by THG Paris

Project of the Week

This week’s instalment of the #SBIDinspire interior design series features a cool, clean and industrial-inspired residential design located in a conservation area in leafy Balham, South West London. SBID Accredited Designer, Richard Dewhurst Interior Architecture was tasked with fully refurbishing, re-configuring and extending the five-bedroom Victorian family house. The project involved adding a large open plan ground floor extension to the rear of the property, whilst configuring the rest of the ground floor to include a formal sitting room, utility room, ground floor guest toilet and extra storage. The rest of the house was sensitively restored and redecorated with one bedroom being converted to a study and both bathrooms redesigned.

Practice: Richard Dewhurst Interior Architecture

Project: Balham House

Location: London, United Kingdom

What was the client’s brief? 

The brief was to completely transform a much loved (but very tired) family home into a place suited to modern living, without losing that feeling of belonging. Being very keen gardeners, I was also asked to make the garden more of a feature from within the house.

What inspired the interior design of the project? 

My clients love for their house was clearly a driving factor in my approach and their new found enthusiasm for the industrial aesthetic allowed me to explore the use of exciting elements and materials such as the metal framed windows, glazed brick slips, polished concrete flooring and engineered brickwork.

Wrap around windows were used to form the connection to the garden and a living sedum roof was installed to give a verdant view from the bedroom windows. I also used crazy paving for the patio, substituting the mortar with moss to soften the transition.

Other interesting touches were to re-use salvaged Victorian tiles from the original demolished conservatory floor and installing a custom made mural of a vintage map showing the local area when the house was first built.

What was the toughest hurdle your team overcame during the project?

Due to initial delays caused by bad weather and because of a very long supply lead time, the windows had to be ordered before the openings were formed meaning that all of the responsibility was on my shoulders if they didn’t fit, but thankfully they did!

The decision to re-use hundreds of the original Victorian floor tiles salvaged from the old conservatory seemed like a good idea at the time, but it turned out to be a complex, challenging and time consuming process as there were  so many different shapes, sizes and colours to contend with. They all had to be labelled and sorted before the jigsaw puzzle could begin.

What was your team’s highlight of the project?

Seeing my clients move back in and immediately feel settled and at home, even though everything had changed!

Questions answered by Richard Dewhurst, Founder of Richard Dewhurst Interior Architecture 

We hope you feel inspired by this week’s Residential design! Let us know what inspired you #SBIDinspire

If you missed last week’s Project of the Week featuring a comforting, patient-focused healthcare design, click here to see more.

Want to become SBID Accredited? Click here to find out more.

Project of the Week

This week’s instalment of the #SBIDinspire interior design series features a stunning Shanghai residence located in the heart of Shanghai’s Pudong district. Elicyon was commissioned to design a luxurious apartment in a contemporary British style. With sophisticated colour palette, lacquered veneers and marble, the design scheme blends perfectly with the existing architecture of the building, and by using joinery, furniture and lighting crafted exclusively in the UK – Elicyon created a home true to the client’s vision.

Practice: Elicyon

Project: Shanghai 

Location: Shanghai, China

What was the client’s brief? 

The client was a young Chinese professional who wanted to create an apartment with a real sense of British craftsmanship within this prestigious residential development. The client had a very strong design ethos with long-term vision – it was very important that the fittings, furnishings and palette chosen would be impactful but at the same time, wouldn’t date. It is always exciting to work with a client who has a defined vision and makes highly informed, considered design choices.

What inspired the interior design of the project? 

British craftsmanship definitely inspired the design of the apartment. This translated into our choice of suppliers – we worked with a lot of British and European artisans and suppliers. We also chose a colour palette with quite a British sensibility – lots of dove grey and pale blues which were then given a twist through contrasting against areas of high black glossy, lacquered veneers. We were conscious of not creating a cliché or pastiche of British design, so we also took inspiration from the Shanghai location, paying homage to the river and incredible views, to create a marriage between east and western influences in the final product.

What was your team’s highlight of the project?

This project was very special for many reasons – the fit-out of the apartment was almost entirely built in Britain and then flat packed and air freighted to Shanghai. It was an incredibly challenging and exciting brief to transpose a completely British-made design for the client. The end result was absolutely fantastic, true to the initial vision of a space with a limited, and in most part, high contrast palette.

Questions answered by Charu Gandhi, Founder and Director, Elicyon

If you missed last week’s Project of the Week featuring a timeless explorer’s lodge in Botswana built with sustainability and nature in mind, click here to see more.

We hope you feel inspired by this week’s Residential design! Let us know what inspired you #SBIDinspire