NoChintz Showcases the Box Project in Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester

NoChintz are showcasing the winner of the Box Project, a northwest wide design competition held over the summer and organised by NoChintz, at the former Nicky Oliver salon at Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester, Courtesy of Argent group PLC from Wednesday 11 November until Friday 4 December.

Won by Karen Smart from the University of Central Lancashire, the competition challenged Northwest creatives to think inside the box by designing a functional use for a 2mx2mx2m microstructure.

Karen (22) from Formby, Liverpool answered the challenge by designing a box that could use its own form to furnish the space, sections of the walls fold down to make shelves, tables and seating. This makes the box very versatile and flexible so it can be used for many different purposes.

Natalie Gray, NoChintz said: “We were thrilled with the response to the competition and Karen’s winning design. We took the box project to 100% Design, the design exhibition in London who also supported the competition, and we received some great feedback. Now we are showcasing it in Piccadilly Gardens so people can see how it works.”

Janet Dunnett, chief executive, Piccadilly Partnership said: “It’s great to have NoChintz and the Box Project exhibiting creative work at Piccadilly Gardens, it shows we have a vibrant design community in Manchester and the Northwest and the Partnership is pleased to support it.”

The Box can be bought from NoChintz and can be used for exhibition stands or temporary shops or gallery space. The design can be also be modified to meet specific requirements.

NoChintz specialise in interior design for private homes, property developers, office and retail space and events. The company was shortlisted for the Manchester Evening News Business of the Year Award 2009.

www.nochintz.co.uk www.theboxproject.co.uk

NoChintz at the MEN Business Awards 2009

The NoChintz team attended the Manchester Evening News Business awards last night where we we made it to the final three of the Greater Manchester's Best Young business.

Jeremy Vine was the host for the night at what was the 16th annual awards at Salford’s Lowry Hotel. More than 300 people attended the glittering ceremony which saw prizes handed out in six categories, ranked by turnover.

We are extremely proud to be one of the three best young companies in Greater Manchester!!

NoChintz welcomes John Vipond to NoChintz

John Vipond has twenty years of extensive experience in residential and commercial interiors in both the public and private sector. He has worked at Director level on a vast number of contracts across the country through a range of disciplines.

John has joined us to mastermind the launch of our Office Design Business where we will be creating environments that people want to work in.

With exceptional organisational skills, John can manage anything efficiently and effectively. He basically knows everything worth knowing about anything.

John is a true gentleman and we welcome him to the growing NoChintz family.

Visit us at 100% Design

Please visit us during 100% Design, we're in the central walkway next to the ICON stand. Come to see Karen Smarts winning design, talk interiors and furniture, or drink our beer. (If there's any left).

Matt Gagnon Studio Table

We love this table from the Matt Gagnon Studio Brooklyn, New York. It is hand made using Homasote (100% post-consumer recycled paper board)

and is designed to be used either upright or on its side.

www.branchhome.com

Finalists for Manchester Evening News Young Business of the Year

NoChintz are pleased to announce that we have been selected as finalists for Manchester Evening News Young Business of the Year. Here's a snippet from today's full page spread in Manchester Evening News...

"A BUSINESS that began life two years ago providing furniture packs for city dwellers is set to break through the £1m turnover mark. NoChintz has blossomed into a complete interiors studio providing a wide range of services for domestic and corporate clients and has seen revenues double each year.

But it is as much the company’s commitment to giving back to the community, nurturing other local businesses and local talent and supporting local events that earned it a place as one of the finalists in the young business category of the M.E.N. Business of the Year competition"

A ''Shed" for Living

Manchester architects FKDA have designed a shed for living... a shed for working... a shed for playing...

Our friends at FKDA, a small architectural practice based in Manchester’s Northern Quarter, have recently completed the design of a micro-home that they affectionately call a “shed”. This is a shed for living. It’s in response to today’s current economic climate where housing needs to be affordable and easily deliverable.

The idea of creating such a small living environment came from the growing reports of people being forced from their homes unable to make their current mortgage payments, and turning to living with family, in garden sheds and even in cars.

The shed provides a very unique alternative living, working or playing environment, which is eco-friendly, healthy, low cost and easily deliverable. It may be designed in response to this current economic climate, but it could also challenge the housing market to steer away from the standard sized bland brick boxes that are commonly on offer throughout the country. Maybe in the future we’ll all be living in sheds?

The response to their building form has been so great that they’re now also working on a beach hut design!

Chips Anyone?

Press Release

NoChintz designs show apartment interiors for Urban Splash’s latest innovative project

INTERIORS STUDIO NoChintz will be handling the interior design for two show apartments to promote Urban Splash’s new Chips development in Manchester’s New Islington.

The apartments designed by noted British architect Will Alsop and supported by Manchester City Council and English Partnerships will provide 142 residential as well as commercial spaces.

Lucy Goddard who heads the Live & Work accounts at NoChintz: “This is a really prestigious project that will have a real impact on the residential property sector in Manchester and beyond. To have an association with ground breaking design and help promote it is very special for us.”

NoChintz has developed a close working relationship with Urban Splash and has worked on the Fosters & Partners Budenberg Haus project and Velvet Mill in Bradford already this year.

A Milan retrospective (this is almost an essay so we suggest going to make a brew!)

Another year. Another fair!

After days of walking, partying, networking and embracing anything ‘design’ we are back from Milan to bring you best of our findings! It’s taken us a few days to ‘regroup and digest’ but here we are to present our top picks and highlights from this year’s show…

In light of the current economic climate there was some widely discussed reservationsas to how this year’s Salone del Mobile would compare to previous years. But, despite the skepticism the fair was as wonderfully inspiring and frantic as ever! Many whom had resisted booking their trip found themselves onlast minute flights – seemingly unable to resist the pull of the fair!

With sensible shoes we conquered the vast expanse of halls out at the main fair; a collection of all our favourite brands exhibiting new and exciting products. Some of our favourites included Moroso’s showcase of the ‘moment’ collection by Swedish designers Front; a collection of pieces wrapped in photographic images of materials. The ‘soft-wood sofa’ and ‘cushion’ two of the most striking. Also showcased by Moroso was Tord Boontje’s ‘flower table’ – an interesting mix of sterling board and pressed flowers.

Soft-Wood Sofa

Tord Boontje’s ‘Flower Table’

Cushion

Quinze & Milan showed the ‘fingers’ shelving systems as well as Gitta Gschwendtner’s concrete ‘ bag stools’. The brand was pushing their new ‘make your own furniture’ concept, with seemingly great success.

Italian stars Porro showcased the ‘Black and White’ collection also by Design group Front (who once again popped up on the Moooi stand for their ‘blow away vase’).

Danish designer Ole Jensen’s chair for Normann Copenhagen was also a great spot.

Ole Jensen's Chair

Back down in the Tortona area of Milan, the SuperstudioPiu, a ‘temporary museum for New Design’ (and always our favourite!) featured product launches and exhibits from the likes of Moooi, Foscorini, Tom Dixon and Adidas Originals.

The Foscorini lighting installation ‘infinity at Superstudio Piu‘ submerged you into a kaleidoscope of moving light, image and sound and was one of the high-lights of the show. Moooi’s launch of the ‘brave new world’ light by Fresh West was also great - even Marcel Wanders himself was hanging around!

The children’s biodegradable 'parupu' chairs made from ‘Durapulp’ by ClaessonKoivisto Rune for Södra caused quite a stir and Archirects, Proof’s ‘the progressive office’ was popular.

Infinity At Superstudio Piu

'Parupu' Chairs

Cappelinni, Cassina and Alias had a huge show room in the area and out and about in Tortora there was a vast array of temporary exhibitions spaces from apartments, warehouses, restaurants and stores.

Ikea show cased the PS range and there were street installations, temporary structures and converted caravans everywhere you looked! The streets were crowded with designers drinking beer from the small ‘festival’ stands and taking in the atmosphere of the fair.

Chairs By Cappelinni

Ikea's PS Range

Maison Margiela opened a temporary 180sq m space on Via Savona - a reproduction of their Paris Studio. The floor was made from rugs with photographic images of the floor in the Margiela store in LA.

Deiesel’s ‘Successful Living’ range of furniture for Moroso, featuring Foscarini, was held in the Diesel Penthouse on via Stendhal. The outdoor terrace of tents a great exhibit.

Established & Sons threw another great party. Showcasing structure and product amidst a backdrop of loud music and free flowing cocktails. Stella McCartney was even amongst the crowd.

In the centre of town showrooms B&B Italia, Cassina and Porro opened their doors to the influx of designers and spectators. Fashion stores has concept windows and temporary installations by the likes of PatriciaUrquiole for design week and even the Quinze & Milan van was out on the town!

Quinze & Milan Van

All in all another thoroughly wonderful show.

Tatton Fun

We're back from a hectic 3 days of exhibiting at the Tatton Design Weekend! The show was a roaring success and we were fortunate enough to meet with some really great people at our 'temporary NoChintz Studio'. We had some interesting consultations and have been privy to some exciting projects coming up in the North West... we're looking forward to an interesting couple of months!

Bespoke. British.

We have recently been combining some bespoke NoChintz pieces with some of our favourite British and European designers.

Take a look at the pieces we went for...

Firstly we customised the 'Portion Sofa' by Leeds based designers Naughtone.

A bright purple Kvadrat fabric was chosen and we emphasised the seat detail by using different and varied coloured buttons.

A Movisi 'Make-Shift' shelving system was hung above a stairwell to maximise storage space.

... and the Cole and Sons 'Tree Wallpaper' was applied to the walls.

Our next stage was a bespoke NoChintz designed storage system with a low sideboard to be fitted to an adjoining wall, finished in white high gloss with bright pink internal aspects. Floating shelves are to be fitted above.

Frost 'camoflague' wall hooks were also applied to the walls.











The perfect combination of Brit, Danish and German design!

Working with NoChintz by Sanjay Prasad

I started working with NoChintz in the New Year, I'd first met them all together for the first time at the NoChintz Christmas party at The North Pole bar, where I'd proceeded to make the cardinal sin of getting very drunk but luckily I wasn't the only one...

The main reason for my joining is my high-end domestic experience. We're looking to expand NoChintz's presence in the domestic field, obviously in Manchester & Cheshire, but also in other immediately surrounding areas and further afield. One of the most exciting projects we're working on is our stand at The Design Weekend held at Tatton Park, 2nd - 4th May. Hopefully we're bringing the whole gang including the Moooi horse!

It's refreshing to hear that there is still plenty of work in the interiors field despite all the doom and gloom we're hearing on a daily basis. There is a noticeable change in requests and preferences, but it really isn't a bad thing. If anything, customers are rightly expecting higher value in their homes, and as a designer it's something you have to get right. Not everyone has an unlimited budget, and it's actually a great challenge to work with. Although if you do want to splash out big time we'll always be happy to help!

Bespoke furniture is also being designed for several clients, and that's my personal favourite aspect of my job. Spec'ing beautiful furniture from prestigious manufacturers like B&B Italia is obviously very enjoyable, but designing something from scratch, so they've got a truly unique piece that belongs to them alone, and not limited by constraints of mass-production, is so much more satisfying. We're also looking into the development of our own NoChintz furniture, watch this space...

Tribute to Tony Hart

Nearly 200 Plasticine Morphs gathered outside the Tate Modern on London's Southbank this Sunday! The gathering was in memory of the late Tony Hart, who sadly died in January.

The Tate Modern

"It has been raining for years now, not a day, not an hour without rain. This continual watering has had a strange effect on urban sculptures. They have started to grow like giant tropical plants, and become even more monumental. To stop this growth it has been decided to store them inside, among the hundreds of bunk beds which, night and day, recieive refugees from the rain ... Turbine Hall / 2058 / London"

The Unilever Series: Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster. Th. 2058
The Tate Modern
Showing until 13 April 09

'Ola London

'Ola London is the greeting from our new favourite place to eat, the Mexican food hall Wahaca! Winner of all manor of food awards, including winner of best cheap eat (The Observer food monthly),

it did not disappoint! A huge 'street food' menu, authentic in taste and choice - top recommendation's would have to include the 'Frijoles with chorizo' and the 'Pork scratchings with guacamole' (yes really!)

mmmmmmmmm www.wahaca.co.uk

Natalie Perry - Voluntary Work Placement

As you all know NoChintz are always looking out for aspiring new Interior Designers to work with and we have now appointed another Voluntary Placement, Natalie Perry.

Natalie has recently completed her degree in Interior Design at MMU and joins us for a couple of days per week to work on a variety of interesting interiors projects including some 3D visualisations of our work.

You can see some of Natalie fantastic work here: New Designers Online

NoChintz at the Design Weekend at Tatton Park

NoChintz will be exhibiting at the Design weekend held at Tatton Park from Saturday May 2nd to Monday 4th. We will be at the entrance of the Home section so please do come say hello and have some cake.

We will be there to chat about our Studio and our projects and remember we pride ourselves on being able to provide designer quality solutions for all budgets.

We have decided not to bring the horse with us this time but he says hello.

Be there or be square.

www.thedesignweekend.co.uk

Fancy Renting in Bradford? Look no further.

Urban Splash are inviting you for some drinks and nibbles at their show apartment at Velvet Mill, Lister Mills, Bradford on Thursday 26th February 2009 from 5.30pm to 8.30pm.

They can show you around their NoChintz designed show apartment and the other homes that they have available; these stunning one and two bedroom apartments start at a bargain £400 pcm.

Velvet Mill is well connected to Bradford City Centre, with a regular bus service outside your front door, and is just around the corner from Frizinghall train station, with direct links to Leeds.

If you attend the evening and then decide to rent an apartment you will receive your first month rent free! (Leaving you more money for those soft furnishings!)

Please rsvp by email to rsvp@urbansplash.co.uk to join them on the evening.

Tweet with NoChintz on Twitter

Come Tweet with us! NoChintz have become addicted to Tweeting on Twitter so come and join the fun and follow what we are up to on a daily basis. Well, almost an hourly basis the way its going!

www.twitter.com/nochintz

NoChintz hosting Seminars for MBA students at Manchester University

Our New Director, Lucy Goddard is going back to her roots this week when she hosts a series of creative tutorials for students at the MMU Facility of Art and Design.

Lucy graduated with her Masters in Enterprise from Manchester University five years ago and is excited at the prospect of sharing her experiences of how to create and nurture creative businesses.