News from Johnny Grey
- Johnny Grey
- 1 hour ago
- 4 min read
The making of the Kitchen of the future
Never let it be said that I am head-in-the-clouds when it comes to how a kitchen is really works. And crucially all it takes to put together a fine hardworking kitchen.
When I was asked by Mike Costain, Director of the Installer Show, to take part in this event at Birmingham’s NEC I jumped at the chance. It’s focused on the makers of our built and interior environment, ie the construction sector. As an event it also offers a great deal to anyone with a project in mind or who is currently working on improving their home. Jam packed with talks, the show is attended by 30,000 visitors over three days. Do come if you can.
In Hall 4 you will find The Kitchen of The Future Stage showcasing a blend of our 4G and Unfitted Kitchens. Here we will be hosting 25 talks, three by me. These are How to Make a Kitchen on Tuesday 24 June at 12.15pm, When It all Goes Wrong Tuesday at 4.15, and The Invisible Hob: TPB Technology on Thursday 26th at 11.30am.
Helen Lord is a supporter of mine (the sustainable Full Circle offer on our website is linked with hers) and founder of Rehome, the UK’s largest marketplace for preowned kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms. Helen will be in conversation with writer Elspeth Pridham in a session called How the Circular Economy Benefits Installers. This is on Wednesday 25 June at 4.15pm.
I’ve always thought of a kitchen at times as a stage, the cook as a creative actor supported by a helping cast, props and scenery. The difference at The Installer Show of course is the audience and the scaled-up experience. Furniture from our Unfitted collection has been chosen to make an eye-catching set with plenty of room for speakers and panellists to walk around. At the centre is the original island from the 4G Kitchen made for Newcastle University, newly fitted with a state-of-the-art invisible hob from TPB in a coppery stone finish. A special feature of this stage kitchen is a revolutionary sink with a water system from Blanco that provides two kinds of filtered drinking water - cold and fizzy - and boiling water with an optional integral measure.
For more drama and presence, we asked the Australian artist Lucy Turner to create wall panels with images of Space Age symbols in glowing colours. Choreographed by the Australian graphic designer Brendan O’Donnell, they look amazing. A big thank you to the sponsors who brought this vision to life: TPB, Blanco, Røroshetta and Capel.
Food, ideas, skills and hope in the South Downs
A couple of weeks ago we helped run the second South Downs Food Festival at Stansted Park. We had all kinds of weather – from lovely sun to wind and, at the end of Saturday, some biblical rain. Highlights were loads of wonderful cooking demonstrations in two marquees.
Jacqueline Wise was the perfect host, five chefs on the Fire and Forage Stage with her performing wonders with local produce on the Vulcanus Grill. The scent of sizzling and smoked meat wafted around the grounds of Stansted House. Thomasina Miers excelled herself with a fun relaxed cooking performance alongside equally excellent Nicole Pisani, co-founder of Chefs in Schools. Ivan Tisdall-Downes, holder of a Green Michelin star for sustainable gastronomy, cooked some local pork in Hambledon sparkling wine. It was incredible.
A huge thank you to Dan Saladino for opening the festival from the Le Creuset marquee and stage. His message from his book Eating to Extinction was a timely one fascinatingly delivered and in tune with the festival’s local food theme. He was joined on a speakers’ panel by Julian Marks, MD of vegetable farmers Barfoots, Kim Wilkie, the acclaimed landscape architect and writer, and academic Alexandra Harris, author of The Rising Down. From her we heard the stories of South Downs people with connections to the history of food and drink in the area, including Ford Madox Ford who grew and cooked vegetables as an antidote to the terror of the trenches in WWI, and Richard Haines, a cider innovator in Stuart era Storrington. Kim Wilkie established the connection between idyllic English landscapes, artistically created and objects of art, and the growing of food. It is only in English parklands and paintings that there are cows in the foreground and sheep cropping the grass. All these gardens were in fact farms, Kim said.
On Sunday, a talk by the writer and cook Angela Clutton (sponsored by Le Creuset) revisited Elizabeth David, with a fresh look at her contribution to the post war life of women. Through her writing ED brought hope and colour to people, visions of better living and warmer, pleasurable places, awakening people’s desire to travel as well as to cook. Then a panel of speakers chaired by Head of Bedales, Will Goldsmith, met to discuss exciting developments in cooking for schoolchildren. We heard from Steve Cross, head of catering at Park Community School in Havant, award winning young chef Hetty Anderson, and Nicole Pisani and Thomasina Miers from Chefs in Schools. These heroes are bringing healthy real food to children who are, by all accounts, hoovering up their vegetables, pulses, dips and salads. It was a deeply inspiring story, some good news much needed in these troubled times.
Speaking of which, another kind of balm was offered by my nephews who brought their travelling cocktail bar from Cambridge. Brothers Tagore, Tao and Raph make all their own mixers and botanicals, many from scratch. If you’re having a party, check them out here.
