Johnny Grey

Johnny Grey (born 1951) is a British designer, author and educator specializing in kitchens. He has been prominent in kitchen design since the 1980s, aiming to make kitchens the sociable heart of the home. He runs Johnny Grey Studios, which has designed kitchens since 1978, has authored five books, and is visiting professor of design and kitchen culture at Bucks New University.

Early life and education

Grey studied architecture at the Architectural Association from 1970 to 1976 (AA Dip Arch), with tutors Jeremy Dixon and Mike Gold. One of the first kitchens he designed was for his aunt the food writer, Elizabeth David.

Career

Early kitchen design

Whilst studying architecture, Grey focused on craft aspects of historic buildingsHe also dealt in and restored eighteenth century furniture alongside his brother. After graduating he made furniture and kitchens in his family’s barn in Sussex. His career took off with a 1980 Sunday Times article, "Why this awful fixation with fitted kitchens?".[1][2][3]

Grey's 'Unfitted' style of kitchen uses original freestanding furniture combined with ergonomics that create friendly spaces experienced like traditionally furnished rooms. This contrasts with the fitted style of wall-based kitchen cabinetry.

Johnny Grey Studios

Grey's studio adapts interiors into sociable kitchens, "living rooms in which you cook", that are linked to the garden and outdoor spaces.[4] Architecture, product and lighting design form the work, which is based on insights from neuroscience. Each project is an individual case.

The studio has worked for residential clients all over the world - from Burgundy, Barbados, Cyprus, Jersey, Dublin, Melbourne, Mustique and Rome, to Zurich.

Grey ran a showroom and studio at the San Francisco Design Center from 1990 to 1997 and currently collaborates in the US with Kevin Hackett of SiolArchitects. Over thirty JG projects have been installed across the country, including showcase houses in San Francisco and New York. With a focus now on socially aware design projects for corporate and charitable organizations, Grey is currently working with the 4G Kitchen Consortium and the National Innovation Centre for Ageing (NICA)and Newcastle University.(NICA)

Design innovation

Grey has been responsible for a range of innovations in kitchen design that permanently altered the way kitchens are lived in, manufactured and sold.

In the late 1970s he adapted the end-grain butchers’ block for domestic use, incorporating it into a piece of furniture, often with a drawer or two. He launched the Unfitted Kitchenin 1984. Made from freestanding furniture this was an unorthodox idea for its time.[5][6][7] The now-widespread use of willow baskets as drawers was firstinvented by Grey in the Unfitted Kitchen. Willow baskets in cabinetry were registered for copyright by Grey jointly with Smallbone in 1987, though Mark Wilkinson objected that basketry can be traced to historic African applications.[8]

Grey brought the aesthetic of the diner counter into his kitchen designs by including a central island wherever possible. These islands blend form and function with level changes and a variety of work surfaces in a body-friendly shape.[9]

Grey incorporated Alexander Technique theory in kitchen design with individually customized dimensions for counter tops and sink and dishwasher placement.[10] Dedicated Work Surfaces, or task-driven areas, further this approach.[11][12] Low-level counters for smaller appliances (and children's cooking) and raised-height dishwashers are now widespread in kitchens.[13][14]

'Soft Geometry' describes Grey's move towards curved furniture inspired by the relationship between peripheral vision and body movement.[15][16] In the mid 2000s his meeting with neuroscientist and sociologist John Zeisel brought new insights into making kitchens into 'happy spaces'.[17][18][19] 'The living room in which you cook' (2014) restricts the culinary zone to leave room for other sociable activities.[20] Eye contact as key to design was another neuroscience-inspired idea, alongside the identification of each kitchen's 'sweet spot' as the location for a key piece of furniture such as the central island.[21][22][23]

Collaborations

Smallbone of Devizes contracted Grey in 1986 to develop concepts for their company, resulting in a collaborative version of the Unfitted Kitchen launched in 1987. In 1990 Smallbone bought designs for a new Inlay Collection that included the bedroom and bathroom.Grey has also worked as a product and furniture designer, producing a bedroom collection for Heal's(1981) and the Conran Shop (1989).

Author

Grey's first book The Art of Kitchen Design (Cassell 1994, in print for 14 years) includes the social history of the kitchen. In 1997 Cassell published The Hardworking House, a collection of essays on the history of home design. In 1997 The Kitchen Workbook was also published in a series of home design books for Dorling Kindersley, later incorporated into DK’s The Complete Home Design Workbook (1998). Grey's Kitchen Culture was published in 2004 with English, American, Russian and Asian editions.

Education and teaching

Johnny Grey is an advocate of university-level education for kitchen designers, with the aim of creating a kitchen design profession. He participates in the initiative to create apprenticeships for the kitchen sector. In 2012 Grey was appointed Visiting Professor of Design and Kitchen Culture at Bucks New University. He wrote their kitchen design foundation degree course with Professor Alison Shreeve. The programme covers interior design, architecture, furniture and product design, design history, kitchen culture, marketing, social media, business and project management.[24] It was launched in 2013 as a blended format, the first students graduating in 2017.[25][26][27]

Within the School of Design, Craft and Visual Arts, Grey creates links between the kitchen industry, design professions and tertiary education. In 2016 he founded the Kitchen Education Trust with Craig Matson, a registered charity for the funding of kitchen design education and provision of bursaries. The Trust joined with the Furniture Industry's Education, Skills and Training Alliance (FIESTA) chaired by Gary Baker. It is establishing an apprenticeship Home and Kitchen degree, setting the kitchen in a wider cultural, research, educational and commercial context.

Grey has collaborated with Sevra Davis, currently head of fashion, architecture and design at the British Council but then director of education at the Royal Society of Arts, and Patrick Bonnet from NICA (National Innovation Centre for Ageing in Newcastle) to extend accessible design education into kitchen design. Together they developed the Student Design Challenge: Eat, Share, Live. Grey obtained sponsorship from AEG, Blum UK, Blanco, Kesseboehmer GmbH, the Office of Disability Issues and Symphony kitchens to fund the challenge. It was followed in 2018 with the next RSA Student Design Challenge, Beyond the Kitchen Table. Students were asked to devise convivial spaces for people of diverse ages and needs in which to prepare food and eat, entertain, engage in hobbies or work and enjoy being together. In 2020 Grey obtained sponsorship from Legal and General Capital for the RSA’s Cultivating Community brief to explore re-imagining common spaces and building diverse communities around food, taking the principles of kitchen design into the public realm. Social Eating workshops were run by Grey in Barking and Nottingham, in conjunction with Company Drinks and scholar-activist Marsha Smith.

Research, public talks, and consultancy

Grey has spoken at conferences in the UK, the US, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Canada on design, creativity and innovation. These include The Arrival of Kitchen Living (San Francisco, April 2005); Space, Architecture and the Brain (Winchester, 2006);[28] Senses, Brain and Spaces with John Zeisel (Salford 2009);[29] Global Furniture conference (Bucks New University, November 2013)[30][31] and the Long Kitchen (Newcastle University, October 2013).[32] In 2015 and 2016 he spoke at the Smart Kitchen Summit in Seattle.[33]

In July 2017 Grey became design ambassador at the National Innovation Centre for Ageing (NICA)[34] where he worked with a team developing the Four Generational Kitchen, a home space for people of all ages and abilities.[35]

In August 2017 he addressed the Smart Kitchen Summit in Tokyo on the 4G Kitchen and brought to its counterpart in Seattle a delegation including Professor Peter Gore and NICA director Patrick Bonnett. Grey also spoke at Bond Custom in San Diego in October 2017 on the Recreational Kitchen and the role of play, innovation and decadence in high-end design. He has worked as a consultant for the kitchen industry since being commissioned in 1997 to head a media campaign for Jennair, ‘Turning Kitchens Into Living Rooms’. The tour brought 43 million consumer impressions and won media awards. A further campaign ‘the Kitchen of the Future’ was launched at the Royalton Hotel. Electrolux USA commissioned NKBIS kitchen concepts for booths in 2005/6 with Grey as design spokesman. A design tour on the theme of Sociability and Sanctuary in the Kitchen was organised in 2006 by Hettich, New Zealand NKBA, Fisher and Paykel and the Australian Housing Industry Association, taking in five Australian cities and Auckland and Vancouver.

In June 2019 Grey spoke at the Whitehall and Industry Group conference on the role of business in an ageing society. As part of a new series Grey ran an online workshop on the Post Covid-19 kitchen hosted by Mike Wolf, founder of the Smart Kitchen Summit. He appeared in a short video introducing the idea of the evening kitchen, with a follow-up interview published by the Spoon describing a kitchen design that summons all five senses to create a warm, welcoming environment.

Multigenerational Kitchen project

Known as the Four Generational Kitchen (4GK), this research project into kitchens for people of any age and any ability, received funding from Northern Accelerator Fund in 2019. Legal and General Capital subsequently funded the development work by Johnny Grey Studios, with the resulting kitchen due to be exhibited at NICA in October 2020. Over 25 British and European companies have come together in the 4G Consortium to supply product and technology. The project’s purposes are to design and deliver prototypes, licence production designs both physical and virtual, offer industry and entrepreneurs opportunities for real-world testing and deliver training in layout, component design and configuration of the smart technology elements. It also facilitates collaboration between industry and university researchers. Its display kitchen will move to a number of locations in 2020 and 2021 for testing and research. On 24 January 2020 the Financial Times covered the story: ‘Meet the designer trying to build hazard-free kitchens'

Clients

Grey's private clients include Elizabeth David; Sting and Trudie Styler, Howard Jones and Jan Jones, Cameron Mackintosh and Michael le Poer Trench, Steve and Laurene Jobs, Peter and Hilary Bazalgette, Andrew Solomon, Felix Dennis, and Aubert and Pamela de Villaine, (wine makers at Domaine de la Romanée Conti).

Awards

Grey received the Simon Taylor Lifetime Achievement Award (2008) from Designer Kitchen and Bathroom for outstanding contribution to the British kitchen and bathroom industry.[36] and Designer Kitchen and Bathroom’s Service to Industry Award in 2016.[37]

Personal life

Grey is the second of five children born in London to Dr Christopher Grey, medical officer at Imperial College and GP. His mother Diana was artistic. In 1984 he married Rebecca, daughter of Peter Hall, Australian architect of the Sydney Opera House. They have four children, Harry, Felix, Augusta and Benedict, and live in West Sussex.

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References
  1. Studios, Johnny Grey. "Handmade Kitchens, Individually Designed, Hand-Crafted by Johnny Grey Studios | Johnny Grey Studios". www.johnnygrey.com. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  2. KOENENN, CONNIE (8 June 2000). "'Unfitted' Kitchens Create Home Around the Range". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  3. "Nooks for cooks". The Irish Times. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  4. Studios, Johnny Grey. "Handmade Kitchens, Individually Designed, Hand-Crafted by Johnny Grey Studios | Johnny Grey Studios". www.johnnygrey.com. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  5. "The Hoosier Cabinet in Kitchen History". Indiana University Press. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  6. "Meet Johnny Grey". ELLE Decor. 11 September 2008. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  7. KOENENN, CONNIE (8 June 2000). "How to 'Unfit'". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  8. "Five questions for: Johnny Grey". Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  9. The center of the home: The kitchen island, retrieved 20 February 2017
  10. Salant, Katherine. "Katherine Salant: Room-by-Room - Kitchen". www.katherinesalant.com. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  11. "Johnny Grey's top 10 tips for kitchen design". The Irish Times. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  12. "A modern country kitchen - Country - Kitchen - Hampshire - by Johnny Grey Studios". Houzz. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  13. Salant, Katherine (11 April 2009). "Kitchens Where Every Last Detail Is Weighed and Measured". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  14. parts, KATHERINE SALANT Correspondent / Second of two. "Well-designed kitchen is welcoming for kids". Sarasota Herald. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  15. Landis, Dylan (2 December 1993). "'Soft Geometry' In Kitchen Design". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  16. "Kitchen of the Week: Sinuous Curves in an Unusual Kitchen Design". Houzz. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  17. "Johnny Grey: Intelligent design - Arkitexture". Arkitexture. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  18. "'Happy space' the final frontier of design". www.yorkshirepost.co.uk. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  19. Wilkinson, Tara Loader (3 December 2010). "A Kitchen to Comfort Your Soul". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  20. "Adare Manor five-bed with a Johnny Grey kitchen for €2.1m". The Irish Times. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  21. "Interiors: Don't worry, be happy; In association with smart newhomes.com Adding colour and curves to your home can lift your spirits. - Free Online Library". www.thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  22. "How to plan a kitchen". Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  23. Salant, Katherine (11 April 2009). "Kitchens Where Every Last Detail Is Weighed and Measured". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  24. University, Bucks New. "Further your career choices in the kitchen design sector with a flexible foundation degree". bucks.ac.uk. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  25. University, Bucks New. "Foundation Degree (Arts) Kitchen Design". bucks.ac.uk. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  26. "New Foundation Degree in Kitchen Design". Woodworkers Institute.com. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  27. "New kitchen design degree course - The Kitchen Think". The Kitchen Think. 20 August 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  28. "Space, Architecture and the Brain". Art&Mind. 14 August 2013. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  29. Jarvis, By Tim. "Mood, memory affected by your home - CNN.com". edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  30. "Global furniture issues to be examined at Buckinghamshire New University conference | Furniture Production Magazine". www.furnitureproduction.net. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  31. http://collections.crest.ac.uk/9548/1/Proceedings%208July2014.pdf
  32. "Staff Profile - Institute for Ageing - Newcastle University". www.ncl.ac.uk. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  33. Ray, Joe. "Your Kitchen Is Connected, But It Still Needs to Get Smarter". WIRED. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  34. "National Innovation Centre for Ageing".
  35. "The 4 Generation (4G) Kitchen".
  36. "The Simon Taylor Award". Retrieved 20 February 2017.
  37. "SPONSORS & WINNERS | The Designer KB Awards". www.designerkbawards.com. Retrieved 20 February 2017.

Further reading
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