In Conversation with : Charlie Smallbone

Tell us a bit about how you got started in the kitchen industry?

I never planned on becoming a designer. When I left university in the 1970s, I started buying antiques at auction in and around Liverpool, where I’d been studying. That led to me buying and renovating pieces of furniture, then gradually progressing to making things from scratch.

Four years later, somebody asked me if I could design a kitchen and – despite not having a clue about kitchen design – I said yes! We built our first kitchen to resemble the old pine dressers and chests of drawers we’d been renovating. Doors were fitted into frames, drawers were dovetailed and we added details such as plate racks into the kitchen design. The look was completely different from the white melamine kitchens that were around at the time.

It’s important to say, in those days, that there wasn’t a kitchen industry as such. People just weren’t focused on kitchens as they are now – and there certainly weren’t any magazines about them. So, when we came along with our radically different designs, the kitchen industry was born as people began to be interested in the kitchen as a designed object.

How do you know when kitchen design is good?

You can’t design a great kitchen, drop it in anywhere and expect it to work. A kitchen that’s well designed must be functional and look great, but it also must be right for the space it’s in. You’re not designing in isolation: an essential part of good kitchen design is how it functions in the home as a whole.

How would you sum up your design philosophy?

There’s probably two aspects to my design philosophy. Firstly, there’s holistic design. I need to know that what I’m creating will not only work in the space but also that it’s going to look fantastic. And secondly, I’m really focused on the materiality of what we do. I want to deliver contemporary designs using beautiful, well-known materials but I also want to have treated those materials in a radical way to produce something that can’t be found anywhere else. We want to show a different aspect of what we can achieve, pushing ourselves to create something unique on every job and for every client.

Describe your work ethos in five words?

I’m always intrigued and passionate.

How do you combine beauty and function in your designs?

It’s partly intuition – but it’s also something we work very hard at, focusing on all the key elements: how the materials will look, how they’ll work together and how they will answer the client’s brief. If the client is happy, then the beauty and the function of the kitchen are held in perfect balance.

What inspires you?

In short, my work – getting out there every day and doing something new.

What do you see for the future of design?

Design shouldn’t stand still. The whole point of it is that new people and ideas come along to present something different and show an alternative way of looking at something. For me, the future is to be constantly open to new ideas and ways of doing things, and to keep evolving.

What are you working on at the moment?

I’m pleased to say we’re very busy at the moment – we’ve got eight or nine jobs in various stages of development. One I’m particularly excited about is a kitchen for a tithe barn that dates back to the 16th century. There’s a huge challenge in designing for a historic building – to create something that’s striking and contemporary but that respects the age of its surroundings. We’re also doing a full kitchen in Verdigris copper that’s going to be stunning when it’s finished. And because we always want to move forward, we’re developing a new technology for rendered finishes on doors … watch this space!

What’s the strangest request you’ve ever had for a job?

We tend to get unusual requests rather than strange ones. That’s part of the beauty of bespoke design: you’re working with clients’ hopes and plans as well as their homes. An interesting challenge was a screen to divide our Camden kitchen from the dining area. The client found an etched aluminium screen from a 1970s nightclub in an antiques shop and asked is to recreate it, which we did in brushed and polished stainless steel in a geometric pattern.

What has been your favourite project to date and why?

Probably the Camden kitchen I mentioned in the last question [images on the left]. We worked on it over a period of three and a half years and developed a lot of original ideas for it. For example, there’s a striking marquetry design on the run of oak cupboards, a fluted oak effect on the end of each island and matching fluting on the quartz splashback. We also commissioned Lara Bohinc of Bohinc Studios to create a magnificent island worktop from a selection of Italian marbles set into a brass surround. The client pushed us to develop some great techniques to complete this kitchen, so I’m particularly pleased with the overall result.

Which project are you most proud of?

Probably our Stroud kitchen [images on the right], which was designed for a Grade II listed Elizabethan property. We were restricted in what we could do because of the age of the home, and we had to develop a whole new style of fitted and unfitted furniture with more free-standing pieces than we’d normally have. It also had to maintain the material palette that we know and love, at the same time as reflecting the age, beauty and charisma of the property. It was a huge challenge, but we achieved all those aims and I’m very proud of that.

What projects do you have coming up in the future?

We’re increasingly being asked to design furniture for other areas of the home. For example, we’re currently creating a library for someone in Mayfair, and we’ve also designed dressing rooms and TV media walls. Clients are wanting our furniture to continue from their kitchen to the living area of their open-plan space to create continuity. I can see us doing a lot more of this in the future.

What was the best advice anyone ever gave you and did you follow it?

I think the best thing I was ever told was never to look back – always look forward. And yes, I try to do that every day of my life.

Discover more: Ledbury Studio