Grand Designs comes to Mat Lab

It’s not every day that you get to work on a project to be featured on Grand Designs – the popular Channel 4 programme with Kevin McCloud – but that’s exactly what happened at Material Lab recently.

Ian Hogarth of Hogarth Architects popped into our workshop to talk about a new house he’s working on with wife Claire, something that is being filmed by the television show. Ian was looking for samples of some slim tiles he needs for the property he’s developing in Kensington, which includes a bathroom area and separate spa or wellness room. He was especially interested in natural stone and took away various samples from the Johnson Tiles Absolute tiles range.

Following that initial visit, the Grand Designs production crew got in touch, asking if they could film at Material Lab. We were more than happy to oblige and had the privilege of visiting the building site beforehand to prepare for filming.

Going to the site with Rory, our studio interior designer, we looked around and discussed the two areas that would need the tiles. This included an upstairs bathroom suite and a spectacular wellness room in the basement.

Both were very distinctive spaces and needed a different approach. The bathroom, for example, was very soft yet bright with a calming ambience. We felt that white tiles were naturally suitable in this space. Whereas the basement wellness room was a dark, underground and cave-like meditation room, something that would better suit a stone finish in a large format.

Working closely with Ian and Claire, we suggested many types of materials suitable for the two spaces but also offered input elsewhere, making suggestions like Lama Concept for the stairs and Cosentino for work tops. It was all hugely interesting and we were honoured to be involved.

Back at Material Lab and following various discussions, we decided on Pictor White Optical 600x600mm for the upstairs bathroom and Varela Graphite Natural 3000x1000mm slim tiles for the Wellness suite. Both Ian and Claire were really pleased with the final choices.

When Grand Designs finally did come in to film, we welcomed Kevin McCloud into our workshop along with Ian Hogarth – both of whom were filmed chatting about the building project.

Watch this space to find out when the actual episode is broadcast. To find out more about the materials we used, visit http://www.johnson-tiles.com.