Meet Sebastian, Director of The London Kitchen Company

Sebastian is the director and founder of The London Kitchen Company. With 15 years’ experience in the industry, find out how Sebastian entered the world of kitchen design, how he’s seen the industry change, where he thinks it’s going, and why his work is different. 

What first motivated you to become a kitchen designer? Where did it all begin and how did The London Kitchen Company come into existence? 

As a child, I was completely obsessed with taking things apart and fitting them back together again to figure out how they work. I was told I would be an engineer, following in the footsteps of my grandfathers. But I was also highly creative - both my parents were musicians.

I’ve never seen myself as a designer - more so a cabinet maker. I’m more concerned with how to bring my clients’ ideas to life than with having my own ideas.  I like to get stuck into choosing the best materials for the purpose and focussing on the details, which is where the real magic happens.

However, I’m certainly creative. I studied art history at university and I always thought of myself as an artist - but I wasn’t great at coming up with abstract ideas. After graduating, I put on a production of The Threepenny Opera,  which we hosted at a disused church in the London Docklands, which was being regenerated at the time. We had no funding at all, but were allowed to take materials from the demolition sites that were all over the docklands at the time, I used these to build the stage, the props, and just about everything! I loved the whole idea of making something from nothing.  

So I continued to do it. I bought a ramshackle place in France and decided I wanted to make everything myself from found material - the furniture, stairs, windows,  and everything in the house. 

Sebastian’s early work using found materials.

I then moved to Barcelona, got married, and taught English as a Foreign Language. I didn’t much enjoy having a job, and wanted above all to work for myself. I started doing freelance painting and decorating jobs at the weekends, and continued making furniture using scrap palettes and materials I found around the city. 

A few years later, back in London, I  was again working as a painter-decorator. One day, a chance encounter with a customer shifted my path towards cabinetmaking. He worked in computer programming, and I was asking him about getting involved in that. ‘Dear me! Don’t get involved in this whatever you do - you should go and make beautiful furniture!” Something clicked in my head. I’d always loved doing that, but never thought I could be doing it for a living. 

Funnily enough, I was recently sent a picture of some table and chairs I had made using wood I’d reclaimed from pallets,  which I painted in bright colours  - which my wife had actually managed to sell to someone. I was amazed at the time that someone would pay me for making something out of scraps!

I took his advice, enrolled on a fantastic furniture making course in London, and spent two years learning everything about wood, machinery, hand tools, etc. An abiding memory is of the tutor demonstrating just how sharp a chisel could be by splitting a single strand of one of the student’s hairs along its length. I gradually got work making furniture, and found myself drawn especially towards kitchens. 

I believe one of the reasons I gravitated towards kitchens is because I have many cherished memories of gathering around the kitchen table with friends and family - to cook, to consume, to celebrate and to commiserate. I want to design spaces that really work for the customer and their particular lifestyle, so that they too can have jolly times and jolly memories. 

The London Kitchen Company was born because I wanted to move my work beyond being just me as a sole trader - and focus my work on kitchens. I wanted a name that was down-to-earth and that did what it said on the tin. Having grown up in London, it felt just right, and we’ve been in business for over 13 years now.

What makes you and The London Kitchen company different to your competitors?

My whole approach is trying to get into the head of the person whose kitchen I’m making. Often I find people can’t articulate exactly what they want, because they haven’t designed a kitchen before. It’s my job to help them to understand their own vision. 

I ask them to look online, using sites such as Pinterest to get an idea of other designs they like, and invite a conversation about what in particular they’re attracted to - such as the space, the light or the materials. I like to understand why they’re interested in a design - the emotional reasons. Then I’ll explain the functional details and we’ll come to a decision together. 

Wooden worktops are a good example of a design decision I come across often with my clients. It’s a natural material, so no matter how well the worktops are looked after, they’ll change over time. I explain the process to a customer - about how it ages, how it picks up the marks of its history, it’s story, and must be looked after. Once I’ve explained all this and they take into account their busy lives, family etc, they usually say - actually - we’ll go for something more easy-to-use, such as Quartz or Corian! However, I'm not here to tell my customers what’s better for them - my role is to explain the pros and cons of a design, and then allow them to make up their mind. Occasionally I have installed wooden worktops, and they’ve been a great success. I believe this is because I’ve helped them really understand both the material itself, and their own reasons for wanting it.

I give my customers all the information they need to be sure about their choices, which I encourage them to make themselves. That way, I’m creating spaces which truly work for people’s lifestyles - I create kitchens with character. 

What aspects of your job excite you the most?

I enjoy meeting clients, talking about their ideas and making it a reality. I love a design challenge, especially when I need to find a solution to a problem, which is often the case with kitchens. 

Whether I need to make a kitchen work around someone’s lifestyle, or around their wonky walls - my job involves design challenges which require both functional and creative thinking. I suppose that’s where my worlds collide, with that combination of engineering and music in my background.

Why is it important to have a bespoke kitchen?

Bespoke kitchens provide flexibility, which is far more important than it may sound at first. There are so many restrictions with catalogue kitchens: they are impersonal and they use a space much less efficiently. Ultimately, it comes down to having too many compromises and not reflecting a customer’s lifestyle. Nowhere is this more true than in London, where space is often at a premium and we need every trick in the book to create a design that really works.

Bespoke kitchens allow customers to have a space exactly as they want it, without the limitations of mass-produced kitchen design. For example, bespoke kitchens can include cupboards that extend all the way to the ceiling, maximising storage space and minimising awkward spaces to clean! 

You can truly reflect your personality with bespoke design. From colour and finish, to the materials used, to the unique functional touches that you want. It’s the only way to realise your exact vision!

How has the industry changed over the past 15 years of you working in it - and where’s it going?

I’ve seen huge changes in the way kitchens are used. There’s the famous expression ‘the kitchen is the heart of the home’ - but it didn’t used to be. The kitchen is now the central meeting point for the family. It’s no longer just a place to cook - it’s a gathering place, which is why kitchen islands have risen in popularity.  More and more people are opening up their houses so the kitchen occupies many roles in the home. 

There’s also a big change in gaining access to machinery needed for bespoke kitchen design. In the old days, big companies had an advantage of economies of scale. They could buy massive expensive machinery and produce things far cheaper than everyone else, which gave them a competitive edge.  With computerised control of the machinery, there are now many companies who buy one or two specialist machines and hire out the use of them to make specific parts. This gives an enormous amount of flexibility and opens up so many options for a small company to be able to compete and provide the best of all worlds in a way that simply wasn’t possible previously. 

The monopoly of big companies has broken up, like how big record companies no longer hold all the control in the music industry. 

What’s next for you in your work? What are you looking forward to?

I’m currently in the process of transforming my railway arch workshop into an office/showroom,! Many more exciting opportunities are coming up, such as working with more architects and designers on challenging projects. Since lockdown, interest in kitchen conversions has skyrocketed, as the trend towards working from home has exacerbated. People are reconsidering their homes as workspaces and lockdown has exposed the stresses of how the house works. With the kitchen usually acting as the hub of the home, I’m looking forward to some busy and exciting years ahead. 

To book a free 30-minute consultation, email info@thelondonkitchencompany.com