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.

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.

Katie Barrett - Voluntary Work Placement

Here at NoChintz we are pleased to welcome and introduce Interior Design graduate Katie Barrett to the company. Here on a voluntary work placement Katie has recently completed her studies at the Design Academy of Nottingham University and is looking to expand her knowledge and understanding of the design industry whilst with us.

Originally from a painting background, Katie is currently working on several of her own private interior design ventures and will be working with us on a variety of projects. Alongside this her experience as a Copywriter has made her the ideal candidate to regularly update our blog and social network sites with the latest developments within the industry and NoChintz ourselves.

We wish Katie the best of luck whist working for the company and hope she will gain some valuable experience and insight in to the design world whilst here.

NoChintz loves AnOutlet

The NoChintz team is, loving our new haunt ‘An Outlet’

The new café bar based in Carvers Warehouse on Dale Street Manchester (and a short walk away from the Nochintz studio upstairs) is certainly worth a visit!

This New York deli meets Parisian style cafe, is the perfect Oasis for the urban dweller It has just enough kitsch, just enough sophistication and just enough greenery (for those of us starved from the great outdoors) to shine a little bit of sunshine in our lives……..literally (look for the yellow disc branding in random places).

Great Coffee and food too! NoChintz recommend the sausage and bacon sandwiches to get the day started and perusing the deli section for treats to take home!

All that’s left now is to see you all down there!

An Outlet, Carvers Warehouse, 77 Dale Street, Manchester M1 2HG

NoChintz on Flickr

We try to provide a bit of visual inspiration on our blog and we hope we do a good job. If you like what you see you can see all of our images for our projects and travels on our Flickr site!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nochintz/

Royal William Yard, Plymouth

Set on the coast of Plymouth, a former naval victualling yard, the stunning Royal William Yard consists of several buildings, including Brewhouse, Clarence and Mills Bakery.

NoChintz have furnished and styled a number of apartments at this exclusive development, some of which have 60ft long living areas....mmmm

The views are stunning and smell of sea air a refreshing change from the city centre developments of late! If we lived in Plymouth, we would like to live here!

John Owens - Graphics Genius

We are currently going through a rebrand....yawn.

But, hey its not actually a yawn at all because we are lucky enough to have John Owens, owner of Instruct Graphics. John is a total whizz with graphics and websites. Previously of Urban Splash, Ian Simpson Architects and Drumbeat Creative his work includes design for print, web, exhibitions, illustration, typography, signage, branding and apparel.

John knows what we are all about.

www.instructgraphics.co.uk

NoChintz Offices in Carvers Warehouse

This is where we drink coffee, I mean work... we love it here.

The space is mostly taken up by a life sized horse, but we love him too.

Come pop up for a brew anytime, we are on the 3rd floor.

NoChintz hit Antwerp, Brussels and London

Nochintz had a mini break in Belgium at the weekend to soak up some Art and design, fashion and culture.

We managed to squeeze in the Quinze and Milan masterfully engineered canopy in Brussels, The beautiful Dries Van Noten store and the Masion Margiela Fashion exhibition at the ModeNatie fashion museum in Antwerp along with shopping for antiques in the city’s many markets and vintage stores.

All this in two days and then returning via London’s Design Museum to catch the Hussein Chalayan (fashion designer) Alan Aldridge (60’s graphic designer) and Patricia Urquola (furniture designer) exhibitions and finally the Tate Modern’s Mark Rothko.
Phew!!

Highlights of our trip were, the amazing video projections and store concepts of Margiela and of course his many fashion collections, along with Hussein Chalayan and the technological feats of his spring/summer 07 collection and last but not least Patricia’s intricate porcelain designs.

If you can’t make it to Belgium make sure you get to the Design Museum London, to see a collective of three amazing designers all in one space!

NoChintz on Facebook

Come join our NoChintz group and fanpages on on Facebook.  It links up to our blog, flickr and Twitter and everyone in our team is on Facebook so come say hi!

NoChintz Facebook Group

NoChintz Facebook Fanpage

NoChintz at the NWDA Women in Business Awards

Some of our favourite people came to the NWDA Women in Business Awards where we were shortlisted in two categories, our first ever entry for awards. 

It was fantastic to get some recognition for all the hardwork we do.