Live! From London's Decorex! It's Johnny Grey!
Johnny Grey is a design world rock star who rose to prominence in 1980 when his unfitted kitchens stood out in stark contrast to everything else available when the London's Sunday Times wrote an article asking "Why this awful fixation with fitted kitchens?" In 1987, Johnny Grey licensed the Unfitted Kitchen (now with capital letters) to Smallbone and they brought Johnny's work to the attention of design lovers in the US.
Johnny Grey Studios has workplaces in the UK and within the US now and they paintings on projects one by one. All of Johnny's designs are website- and purchaser-particular. No of his initiatives look alike but there are subject matters that run through all of his work. A Johnny Grey mission spares not anything as it serves a design. Despite his exacting requirements, there is a knowing playfulness that settles over the whole thing and the impact is engaging. There's no different phrase.
Decorex is one of the world's premiere design showcases and it started yesterday in the Chelsea section of London. What makes Decorex so unique is that its exhibitors are hand-picked from around the world. Decorex is committed to showing only the best and most inspired designs it can find and this year, Johnny Grey Studios is exhibiting free-standing kitchen furniture for the first time. In another first, the five pieces on display this week are available for individual sale. Chuck Wheelock is Johnny Grey Studios' US Design Director and a friend of mine. Chuck sent me the following photos of those five pieces and anybody not at Decorex is seeing them here for the first time.
The Tree Corner Cupboard
All furnishings starts out as a tree trunk and this natural shape and beauty is lost whilst sliced into square sections. JGS?S tree corner cupboard is a simple construction, suspended from a tree and fixed to the wall. The design objectives to bring nature again into furnishings and have a good time its imperfections, variegations, incompleteness and diffused movement in form. Fine stainless mesh lets in air to flow into for the duration of at the same time as hidden internal lights offers a ghost-like depth as the mesh takes on a patterned sheen.
Personal anecdote
Ever since the age of seven, when I made a workshop bench between three small trees, I have wanted to design a piece of furniture around a tree. I cut down this 6” diameter holly tree to make way for a workshop at Fyning Copse. It sat around for 15 years before I stripped the bark off and passed it over to furniture maker Chris Height. He suggested the butterfly handles and simple butt hinges. --Johnny Grey
Leila Ferraby and Johnny Grey labored in this piece.
The Cooking Island
The maximum essential item of furnishings in a current kitchen is a primary island, wherein you could prep and cook efficiently, without moving more than a few paces.
When we found this piece of burr oak, it was clear that this should be the key feature for our evolved take on a cooking island, with its profile lit behind glass. The glass panels behind the burr panels are hand-cast, which blurs the impact of the concealed LED lights and gives a texture like captured water, matching the burr oak. The un-coloured concrete is the same composition as used in garden sculpture and incorporates the colour variations and natural imperfections found in the mix.
Personal anecdote
The furniture makers Chris Thorpe and Adrian King made a huge impact using dramatic burr oak. Our vision for the piece began as a series of wonky-edge planks with gaps as cladding. Imagine looking across a field at night and seeing an old barn with gaps between the boards and light peeping through. The mystery of what lies behind and the darkness all around provides both a comforting feeling and desire to know more. We tried to capture that quality in this design. --Johnny Grey
Leila Ferraby and Johnny Grey labored in this piece.
The Sink Cabinet
This piece was inspired by the simplicity of rustic farmhouse scullery sinks. The open construction is simply expressed with cast concrete flanges as supports and timber horizontal shelves with bolts to hold the centre section together. Coconut draining boards flank the Belfast sink and concrete backed countertop. The backsplash by artist Alex Zdankowicz adds a touch of artisan glamour to an otherwise austere piece. Handmade willow baskets by Jenny Crisp were designed to allow cutlery to be moved easily between table, dishwasher and sink. Other shelves are left open so that you can see the beauty of functional kitchen utensils and cooking equipment.
Leila Ferraby and Johnny Grey labored on this piece with layout guidance furnished by way of Matt Withington.
The Plate Rack
Inspired by way of the plate racks Elizabeth David commissioned from French provincial makers for sale in her store, this piece is simple and utilitarian with minimum use of fabric. We introduced chrome steel rather than dowels, which makes more room for plates in addition to visually lightening the layout.
Chris Height made this for JGS.
Personal anecdote
I have designed 14 plate racks through the years. All of our kitchen clients are asked whether they would like one in their kitchen and the reaction usually is strongly expressed; people both love or hate them. Elizabeth David stated plate racks were a essential partner to efficient washing up and requested me to design her one for her winter kitchen. That become my first plate rack layout which isn't unlike the one we've got designed for this series. --Johnny Grey
Leila Ferraby labored under Johnny Grey?S supervision in this piece.
The Light Dresser
So some of the gadgets we bring into our kitchens have a real beauty approximately them ?Whether or not practical kitchen vessels or artisan objects. We felt that a contemporary version of the traditional Welsh dresser should use light to magnify the delight and enjoy of seeing this object.
We created a dresser that celebrates light, by creating a light box behind the back and the underside of the countertop. The light dresser glows within the kitchen with the colour and brightness chosen by a remote control.
Nigel Brown, an impartial and prominent cupboard maker made this piece.
Personal anecdote
When we first commenced designing the contemporary cottage series we desired to have every piece of fixtures contain its own lighting, turning into a light experience itself. The dresser was the most critical try to do that. We were inspired by using the movie 2001; A Space Odyssey where the walls of the space station glowed, the lights being hid inside the floor and the effect was close to more advantageous sunlight hours.
Miles Hartwell and Johnny Grey designed this piece with a few assist from Leila Ferraby.
You can get more information about Johnny and Johnny Grey Studios on their website , where you'll find images of projects they've completed all around the world. If you find yourself at Decorex this week, please go see Johnny, Chuck and the rest of the Johnny Grey Studios team at booth E153 and tell them hello for me.