 Use emotional intelligence to plan sociable, highly individual kitchens - this was the message from internationally renowned kitchen designer Johnny Grey. During a two-week Australia tour in June 2006, he spoke in Melbourne, Sidney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth to over 1,000 people from the kitchen and bath sector. Before that he was the keynote speaker at the National Kitchen and Bath Conference in Auckland/New Zealand.
The idea for the tour came from Aidan Jury, General Sales and Marketing Manager at Hettich Australia. The other sponsors, who contributed massively to the tour's success, were Australian appliance manufacturer Fisher & Paykel and the Housing Industry Association (HIA).
Aidan Jury sums up his motives for inviting the world-famous kitchen designer to Australia: "We wanted to present Australian architects and designers with completely new and very exciting ideas for planning kitchens. Australian designers are ahead of their time; they're always trying out new ideas. To get their attention you have to do a lot more than simply launch new products in the marketplace."
At fully-booked out seminars and workshops, Johnny Grey talked about his kitchen design philosophy. His ideas provoked lively discussions as participants put forward their own views on kitchen design. At evening events for the general public, Johnny Grey fascinated audiences with his views on intelligent and emotional designs that often break sharply with conventional kitchen planning philosophies. The tour theme, Design for Sociable Kitchens and Sanctuary, provoked a cascade of new ideas from Johnny Grey. Instead of conventional linear work surfaces, he works with different activity zones, ergonomic work-surface heights and a mix of colours and materials. Grey's concept of "soft geometry" - flowing, curved shapes, creating natural routes through a space - encourages a natural workflow and creates a companionable atmosphere. He favours planning a kitchen around a central island, so that people face into the room while they're cooking instead of looking at the walls. "If you can create a clear overview and a feeling of wellbeing, then you've taken the first step in the direction of a sociable kitchen," says Johnny Grey. He applies emotional intelligence to kitchen planning.
Johnny Grey's Australia tour stirred huge interest among architects and designers and the reaction both during and after the tour was overwhelmingly positive. Reports heaped praise on him as a unique, forward-thinking and talented professional. His talks and presentations set off an avalanche of new ideas.
For Hettich the tour was one of the highlights in our policy of establishing direct contacts with architects and interior designers. "It was a thoughtprovoking event for all concerned," says Aidan Jury. So the final round of applause goes to the three tour sponsors who successfully put a great idea into action. In so doing, they demonstrated that successful brand building need not be product-based.
Who is Johnny Grey?
Johnny Grey is one of the most influential kitchen designers in the western world. His ideas, expounded in a number of books - including The Art of Kitchen Design, which has become a standard reference book for designers - are thought-provoking, challenging and inspiring. His ideas on how a kitchen should look were shaped by his aunt Elizabeth David. The cook books she wrote from the 1950s onwards introduced the British public to Mediterranean cooking and had a far-reaching influence on food and kitchens. "In my aunt's kitchen there were no linear work surfaces or rows of built-in cupboards. but she was a superb cook and we enjoyed some unbelievably good meals in that kitchen." Childhood experiences of the kitchen as the hub of family life are one source of his original approach to kitchen design. Johnny Grey says he could never imagine a kitchen as simply a linear, wall-based collection of cupboards.
Johnny Grey studied architecture in the early 1970s, financing his studies by restoring antique furniture. This sideline deepened his love of fine craftsmanship and creativity, features that run through his design philosophy. Key ideas are emotional, intelligent design, sociable kitchens, soft flowing shapes, material mixes and a lot of light. Johnny Grey and his teams plan kitchens that take account of how users interact with their environment and what they intuitively like.
With his design studios in England and the USA, Johnny Grey has built a reputation as an original designer and trendsetter, especially for kitchens. He sees the kitchen less as a food preparation zone and more as the sociable heart of a modern home. "We don't design kitchens, we design living spaces in which people can cook," he maintains.
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