June 25 – 27, 2024 NEC Birmingham
My sessions:
Universal Design with Adam Thomas and Symphony Kitchens
26 June - 2:30 PM
The Culture of the Kitchen with Owain Harrison of Novy BV Appliance group
26 June - 4:15 PM
The Future of Kitchen Design with Mark Conacher of Senstec
27 June - 12:30 PM
There’s a chance coming up to see JGS’s four generational kitchen research project, an innovative, inclusive, real kitchen created in partnership with Newcastle University. Following its display in the Helix Building in Newcastle, it is now being reassembled at the Installer Show in Birmingham, a trade show but one of general interest to anyone with a building project in mind. I will be doing talks on the stand as well as joining the busy seminar programme, including one on the culture of the kitchen. The practical side of the kitchen and home building industry has a great champion in this show at Birmingham’s NEC. There is no entry charge.
Archive on 4, Fitted and Kitted
This is a sparky gallop through 100 years of kitchen history, narrated by Ruby Tandoh and Professor Deborah Sugg Ryan. As the programme wraps up it asks the question ‘why does the kitchen of the future never arrive?’ In answer it makes the point that ‘the kitchen of the future’ is in fact already here in its blend of the past, the imagination and technology. Overall this is a dizzying story of total transformation, from ‘sooty caverns with no electricity or running water, to sleek utopias of marble and technology’. I had a lot of fun being interviewed. Ruby was charming, curious and sympathetic to new ideas. We explored one my pet themes, dirt. I have always been impatient with the way fear of dirt trumps other important considerations in kitchen design. The modern solution is a red herring too. Plastic is in fact a less hygienic surface than wood, which contains natural antiseptics in the traces of sap that remain in wooden furniture.
Catch up with all the programme’s ideas on BBC Sounds.
Outrageous Homes
Highfield, the Treasure Island House near Stratford on Avon
Johnny and his team at JG studios worked on this extraordinary project for Felix Dennis, the colourful publisher and woodland philanthropist. Completed in 1998, we designed the entrance hall and double sided aquarium, four poster bed and gun carriage TV. The surrounding apartment also featured a kitchen in a cupboard, an amazing shell bathroom. Another kitchen was inspired by the opium craze of the seventeenth century. There is also a banqueting hall and, for the occasional serious moment, a study.
Find out more about the programme or watch the episode on Channel 4.
News flash!
We’ve just had confirmation that Prue Leith is opening the festival.
Wonderful news, we couldn’t think of anyone better. Everyone is familiar with her wit and style and her immense knowledge of the food scene. Come along and see her alongside all our other erudite guests.
South Downs Food Festival
Save the date: 14 and 15 September this year!
For news about the South Downs Food Festival in association with the Elizabeth David Estate and to book tickets, please go to the website. We are lining up a programme of fantastic talks from writers, chefs and food experts including Guy Singh Watson of Riverford fame; Diane Purkiss, author of English Food; Observer food writer Rachel Cooke; and Julian Baggini, philosopher and author of the new book How the World Eats. It is very exciting to be working on this brand new festival, which is shaping up nicely. More authors and events to be announced soon…
