The Christens

Our architect friends at Gagarin Studio asked us to help with this exciting London apartment renovation. The client wanted a bespoke, high-spec interior space that would really maximise what is actually a relatively small area. Even more than most, this job required us to achieve new levels of integration between the building itself and our own interior cabinetry.

One area where this is particularly visible is our newly created entrance. Here, a seamlessly tapering wall of wrap-around cabinetry replaces what was once a traditional hallway, cupboards and doorway. Our new feature also cleverly conceals the apartment’s utilities hardware. In the confined space of this city apartment, stricter regulations required a fire door between the kitchen and the rest of the space. To address this, we designed an almost invisible door ‘hidden’ within the seamless run of panelling, which opens automatically in the event of the fire alarm sounding. Making sure the fire door was discreet but operable presented one of this project’s biggest design challenges, but then we love a good challenge here at Wood & Wire!

Not surprisingly, the kitchen itself is extremely compact in this property. The good news was that our clients had thought long and hard about exactly what was and wasn’t required of it, based on their own daily routines and lifestyle. For example, they wanted only a hob – no oven – and they maximised worktop space by forgoing a kettle, instead opting for a space-saving kettle tap. Meanwhile, a small sink provided a compact alternative to a dishwasher, with storage and seating helped by some wrap-around units on one wall as well as open shelving, eye-level cupboards and even some banquette seating.

In the bedroom, for continuity, we created a run of wardrobes with doors in the same ‘slatted’ style as elsewhere. Again, the configuration was carefully thought out to perfectly suit our client’s specific storage needs and make the best possible use of the apartment’s limited space. The integrated bed, headboard bedside table were also all designed and made by us.

In a small but dedicated office space we built open shelving, along with some fitted storge specifically for the client’s audio equipment and record collection. Meanwhile, when it came to the apartment’s bathroom, our shelving, cabinets and washstand were similarly created with space in mind.

Overall, this was a really interesting project for us, and one that relied extremely heavily on close collaboration with the architects. This was partly because of the particularly detailed specifications provided by the clients, who were responding to limitations imposed by the apartment’s compact size. The unusually tight timeframe posed a significant challenge too, since the building’s management required us to complete our part of the project within just a two-week window. This meant coordinating our own schedule very closely with the project’s builders, who’d done their bit immediately before us.