The Good Socketed Firstly the sockets are done at last. This was an important milestone as it represents the approach of the conclusion ...
The Good
Socketed
Firstly the sockets are done at last. This was an important milestone as it represents the approach of the conclusion of this mammoth portfolio project. We're really looking forward to sharing some before and after shots and believe you'll be shocked at the transformation. If you've not braved the wall of text here's a link to the socket project
No Show Sockets.
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| One pair of sockets |
A guy called Guy
We visited a
ECOLedLight this week and spent an enjoyable time in the company of Guy who knows more about lighting design and LED technology than we'll ever learn. We've made use of ECOLedLight's products before (AR111s are used in our bespoke cooker hoods;
Extraction, their circular aluminium extrusion and LED tape was used in the ambient light project;
Softbox in the Kitchen and about to feature in a task light project).
Their technology is, forgive the pun, light years ahead of the other companies out there purporting to know about this stuff. We've got some exciting work kicking off shortly hence the visit and rest assured we'll keep you up to date.
Below is a sneak peak of the task lighting - we had to model the mounting block and end caps to confirm some measurements due to their diminutive size.
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| Prototyping task lighting in the brave, new, virtual world |
An opera singer, a computer chip designer and a vineyard
Still on our rampant Grand Designs Australia addiction this week was the truly something special. Our "self-builders" this week were an international acclaimed opera singer and the man who was, at one time, designing silicon for Microsoft. Taking a change in the direction of their lives they'd opted to become wine producers and availed themselves of a 100 acre vineyard.
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| Kupito House |
Working with an architect who really grasped the concept of an organic design the resulting home was/is a glorious example of what you can do with a lot of money and 3 creative people operating on the same wave length. The home sits beautifully in the landscape and whilst unashamedly modern it appears surprisingly lightweight and works with rather than against it's immediate environment. Definitely one to check out (
Before/After pictures here...)
The Bad
More 4 has been repeating classic Grand Designs recently. These have proved a great opportunity to see the subtle shifts in architecture and the increasing "patina" of Mr. McCloud. Why does it appear in this, The Bad, section? Well this week a revisited was repeated, this was a grand design based on the rescue of
Hellifield Peel Castle.
Rescue may actually not be a strong enough word; the property was a literal ruin at danger of collapse (during the course of filming there was a significant collapse of an internal wall). The owns poured their hearts, souls and every last penny in to the work resulting in a hefty financial legacy and need to run the place as a luxury bed and breakfast.
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| Great potential, a real fixer upper, good project - Estate Agency speak |
Whilst one may be cruelly critical of their taste and adherence to a pastiche of the castle aesthetic no one could possible criticise their dedication to the project. So if not them, or the building what was the bad?
Planning, or more specifically English Heritage. The property was tagged as a "Scheduled Ancient Monument". This additional qualifier on a building is the ultimate in status for those who've done, and tired of, the mundane Grade 2 Listed, the pedestrian Grade 2 Star and the frankly, far too common, Grade 1.
As we said above the castle was a literal ruin; no roof, vegetation growing from every elevation, collapsed masonry everywhere. It was clear the place was going to fall-down and be nothing more than a romantic pile of rubble in a remote field with a nice view.
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| Mid restoration - somewhere English Heritage are debating whether galvanized scaffold is period correct and considering specifying a return to wooden scaffolds and serfdom |
English Heritage, rather than profusely thanking our brave project team instead visited upon them numerous stringent requirements including such delights as over 20k in archeology bills alone. They demanded not just certain materials but also processes/methods and sources for those materials.
We've said it before when talking about
The Landmark Trust (who adopt a radically different approach) that those institutions charged with the preservation of our rich and varied history really need to develop a pragmatic approach. We've all dreamed of restoring that tumble down ruin, glimpsed fleetingly when passing in a car but the reality is that without this more pragmatic approach it really would/is simpler to just not bother.
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| The finished article |
How ironic it is then, that these organisations are in some cases the single most significant impediment in the protecting of the very history they exist to preserve.
The Ugly
After last week's return of the
Great Interior Design Challenge and our resultant sentiments (
more here) we naturally thought we'd watch it again. Perhaps the first one was a joke, a riff on dodgy DIY shows, an on trend but sadly unsuccessful attempt at design irony. Sadly no...
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| Have you seen these 3? Wanted for crimes against quality and craftsmanship. Do not approach without adequate protection, contact Crimestoppers if you see them in a room near you. |
The "standard" was maintained this week although the final two combatants did at least have a genuine level of creativity. Again, however, it was let down by execution. Quality is one of the few levers we have now. Small companies such as us can't compete with 1 billion Chinese producing cheap home ware, we can't even get in the ring with companies like John Lewis who combine enormous buying power with the resources of a large company.
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| All she wanted was a calm, peaceful bedroom, what she got was a lot of very busy wallpaper, a cardboard lightshade and random blue elements. You can't blame her for screaming |
Independents have at their disposal only a few weapons with which to establish themselves as combatants in this decidedly brutal arena; quality, uniqueness, craftsmanship. Our inherent low volume is a strength but it's all for nought if we don't do our "thing" well.
The premise of the show is decent enough but a format that really centers on core competency, quality and execution detail would be much better.
This Week's Obsession: Nothing!
This is a good sign; this week we've been far too busy doing a variety of things to get obsessed by mere material items. If we dare venture into the more esoteric area of possible obsessions we'd openly admit to talking to anyone who dares to give us an audience about quality and craftsmanship. We're also just a little obsessed about a future project which it's far too early to talk about but which is, all the same, most definitely on our minds.
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| Attention to detail, craftmanship - it's what defines us and differentiates our community |
Next week we'll organise an extra hour each day to look for material things to be obsessed by!
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- Week What of What? You What? I mean, pardon?
- These posts give us a chance to recap on the last week at Bokoshoko and give you a glimpse of what's happening. Many of our projects take time to come to fruition or our customers would prefer we did not share so these posts also show we're not just sitting around!
