July has already been a month filled with line-ups and line-calls, competitions and votes – it’s been a full-time job just keeping up with the news and current affairs.
We’ve been playing our part in our High Street home in Wimbledon Village, first as mustering point for Channel 4 News, scouring for soundbites as polling showed Wimbledon teetering over its choice of parliamentary representative. We can’t be sure of Channel 4’s sources – for either the voter wobble or choosing us as their backdrop – but perhaps they were prompted by new pollster on the block, Luke Tryl, and his tongue-in-cheek analysis of cocktail choices against voting intention, and the fact that our Wimbledon Windows – in a nod to the tennis – are currently dressed as a loosely deconstructed Pimms.
With paper strawberries bobbing above our showroom window basins and a bath full of inflatable cucumbers as showcase for our window design concept – admittedly one unlikely to win prizes with Wimbledon Tennis Window Competition judges looking for something a bit more ‘balls out’ – and Pimms, co-incidentally, and perhaps counter-intuitively, polling high as a tipple favoured by those intending to vote – tactically or otherwise – for a new government, maybe we were topical.
We’ve also been welcoming in the crowds that pass by the doors dressed for a tournament and looking for direction (lunch spots, the championships, what’s new in kitchens and bathrooms, … ). We have met a number of USians, searching out cool ideas in what’s new over here, either because they’re embarking on a project back home or because they also work in the industry – and we’ve learned a lot from our conversations.
From as far away as Wisconsin, there was much interest shown in our Japanese inspired, Italian designed ‘Dip’ bath (currently filled with those cute ‘cukes’) as something viscerally appealing to the senses. We’ve understood from those who live in Indiana that the word ‘tap’ is confusing if you only know it as a ‘faucet’, and that one that supplies boiling, chilled sparkling, and filtered cool water, is entirely unimaginable until you’ve experienced it in motion and examined both wherewithal and whereabouts of all of its workings. And everyone is enchanted by our new Vlaze outdoor kitchen, especially once they hear of its links with London and Paris underground enamel signage.
From Philadelphia we’ve had direct confirmation that Air Fryers, while riding a wave of fandom in the US of A right now, are also “definitely a fad”, and that the latest innovation they are excited about over there is the hiding of a microwave under a countertop – the mind boggles at such seemingly low aspirations, but then again the microwave has often been ‘eye level’ and ‘focal point’ in US kitchens, so maybe any kind of concealment comes as a relief.
From Philly we also learn that a downdraft hob, facing out to a room and quietly extracting smells and newly airborne particles, looks like a magic act when your design view is anchored to the weight of a range cooker, backed against a wall and underneath a hood. Further, that steam ovens are unheard of, that combining steam with hot air is a revelation to those who’ve not thought about how heat is best carried to achieve different results in cooking, and that ‘sous-vide’ technology and vacuum sealing drawers are, to the uninitiated, mind-blowing ideas that are hard to wrap a head around if you’ve not been introduced before to professional techniques that translate well in domestic settings.
We’ve sent our new friends from this part of the world home with new ideas in technology, placements, and countertop surfaces: some having admitted on this latter subject to favouring engineered quartz over natural stone for the principal reason that the man-made comes with predictability and cosmetic endurance built into its looks. Coming from this perspective, it was a down-the-rabbit-hole moment to understand our wonderland where natural stone might proudly bear its individuality and ageing process as different facets of its timeless beauty, rather than structural flaws to be resisted at all costs.
We always enjoy a conversation – are curious to learn from others and to share what we know and/or believe – and, wherever you hail from, our doors are open should you want to have a look see, a demonstration, or a chat about ideas. In the meantime, we invite you to take a look at our website and IQ design notes on Japanese bathing and Biophilic design (human affinity with nature as design discipline), or whatever else you may find of interest there.
In our showroom this week we are also serving iced tea with a strawberry theme and/or Pimms – according to the occasion, time of day, or possibly your voting tendencies – while we continue to enjoy the buzz of all the visitors that Wimbledon fortnight brings to our door – maybe you will be one of them?
