It’s time to get dressed and open the doors……………
24th February 2017
It’s been a very exciting week for our new London Showroom in St John’s Square, Clerkenwell, we are finally ready to open!! well very nearly, we plan to open our doors next week. Robin and Ben went down at the beginning of the week to fit the rest of the showroom furniture and spent a busy two days making sure everything was immaculate before they left. I then went down to start the dressing of the showroom, it’s of course the best bit and such a privilege to be able to make a mark on such a special building and to know so many thousands of people will see this window everyday.
We had people peering through the window and knocking on the door all day long, just excited to see it all finally coming together after so many months of wondering and waiting. It was such fun finally putting together all the things I have bought over the last few months out in the kitchen. You have a vision of how you want something to look and just have to hope you can pull it off, it began so many months ago. It’s been a long journey and so many people at deVOL have helped bring the vision to reality, Claire and her ability to create the perfect tile from a few pictures and dimensions from pubs in Clerkenwell. Now in place, these tiles look exactly how I imagined and hoped, so perfect for the building, I just love them and the way they look really special – yet also as if they could have been there for the last 100 years. The glazed wall cupboards are now filled with old Majolica plates from around Europe, they are all different and just add a soft feminine touch to this grand kitchen. These little frilly and leafy dishes all green and pink, are just delightful and were really the basis for the rest of the room.
A trip to Columbia Road flower market in Bethnal Green, a couple of Sundays ago with Zoë was another important part of the design. We have sourced so many beautiful marble urns and planters and pots for all our showrooms and I loved the scale of them and wanted them to be part of the look at St John’s Square. House plants are back in fashion and the ‘Parlour Palm’ in the showroom is very traditional for this type of house, it’s elegant and opulent and I hope we can keep it alive!! the little tufty green plants are a long time favourite of mine, commonly known as ‘mind your own business’ or ‘baby’s tears’ they just look so cool with their teeny tiny leaves, like little afro hairdos, I love them and thankfully found them at the flower market. When I have a specific thing in mind I am not easily swayed, so I think Zoe was very pleased when we found the plants early in the day, it was very cold, wet and early on Sunday morning and we were on the bus!!
The copper was another look that I thought would be perfect for the showroom, I know it’s fashionable at the moment but that’s not why I love it. I love it because every great chef always uses copper pans, looking in a professional kitchen you are most likely to see a lot of copper so I wanted this new showroom to have the feel of a professional kitchen, the Wolf cooker is perfect for the industrial high end kitchen not to mention the fact it looks so good……… It just looks solid and sensible, no twiddly bits, just proper cooker through and through, they may be expensive but if you are a keen cook this would definitely be a very special cooker to own.
The brass pole behind the cooker is the perfect place to hang lots of stuff!! and I can’t resist a few dried chilies, herbs and a bit of charcuterie. My shop of choice for these pieces was Leila’s Shop on Calvert Avenue in Shoreditch. It’s a simple greengrocers and cafe, but everything they sell is the best quality and always in season. They have the very best fresh and dried produce bought in, oranges from Valencia, lemons from Sicily and beautiful greens from all over the UK. It’s such a lovely place and it’s funny how a traditional greengrocers has become ‘the place to go’ for supreme quality. I hopped on the 55 bus from St John’s Square, a little ‘half way through the day’ break, had lunch in Leila’s cafe then popped next door to get some bits for the showroom.
The pantry was another little spot to think about, it’s such a great use of space, we have transformed a dark and dingy and very long loo, into a light filled space. The panelled walls reflect the panels in the showroom and they give a warm comforting feel to the pantry and loo. This little room full of light in the corner of the showroom is such a surprise and in your own home would be life changing, I just love pantries and the way they can organise you so well.
So the day began to turn to dusk and I dimmed the lights in the showroom and went outside to see how it looked from a distance and was so happy. A warm inviting kitchen, grand and special but still homely and a place you would want to hang out in. So many people have worked so hard to get this showroom to this point and standing across the road and looking in through the windows was a special moment, it glistened with loveliness and style. I took a few pictures from outside which are not amazing but I hope they capture the scale and warmth of our new deVOL Showroom.
We plan to open on Tuesday 28th February, over six months of hard work, excitement and lots of fun have culminated in this moment.
Our wonderful manager Emily Rumble from the Tysoe Street Showroom (also in Clerkenwell) is moving to run the St John’s Square showroom, she is now taking appointments and if you would like an appointment at this address please email london.enquiries@devolkitchens.co.uk or call 02038797900.
We have a selection of our Shaker and Classic furniture on show and will be happy to do design appointments for both ranges from St John’s Square. We also have on show and to order, our new crackled pendant lights, our Bum Stool, the big green metro tiles, some of our new hardware and crockery and a growing collection of vintage pieces.
