5.2m tall bespoke sash window/door for a Victorian house renovation in Barry Road, Peckham. This was a referral from my Peckham Refreshment Rooms project. The idea being to minimise the impact of a large summer-friendly opening on the modest patio area. The solution was extreme in terms of the engineering and installation challenges, but beautifully simple in essence.
French oak, glass and steel. Hardware by Flints. Big thanks to John Maddox from Suspended Illusions for the installation rigging.
Services: Design, Engineering, Joinery and Installation
© Bernard Elsmere 2022
Designed by SAM Architects as part of an extension in Beckenham, South London, this kitchen features a deep terazzo counter which we produced in-house using the same tiles as the floor.
We made a range of sample options before settling on a white cement base with natural sand to offset the richness of the timber.
The cabinetry is in sapele and preserves the original rough sawn surfaces made by the saw mill with planed details for the shelving, posts and handles.
Architects: SAM Architects LLC
Services: Design, fabrication, installation and finishing. 2021
A highly crafted kitchen in a mansion flat in Belsize Park, London. Plain fronted doors hide solid oak drawers with traditional dovetail joinery.
We used off-the-shelf oak stave counters to keep costs down, focussing instead on quality craftsmanship for all the elements which needed to be bespoke.
The design emphasis is on a specific function for each element rather than modernist modularity.
Private Commision 2015
Materials: Oak counters, shelves, window casing and drawers, ash structure and table, birch plywood fronts, tiling, glass and bespoke iron pot rack.
Joinery and cabinetry for an extension in Honor Oak, South London designed by SAM Architects.
This project features a deep-framed sliding patio door with a maple interior and painted sapele exterior. The kitchen and library are a combination of solid maple for the stairs, posts and handles, maple veneered panels and a sprayed paint finish for the storage cabinetry. The pivot door becomes the wall of the passage when open.
Architects: SAM Architects LLC
Services: Design, fabrication, installation and finishing. 2021
Joinery project for an extension in Peckham, South London.
The exterior windows and French doors are in solid oak with matching oak veneered storage benches forming an extended window seat corner.
Architects: SAM Architects LLC
Services: Design, fabrication, installation and finishing. 2021
Conversion of a rear bedroom of a Victorian house in Peckham to a large bathroom featuring a Japanese style wooden bath on a drained platform, bespoke terazzo sink and terazzo shower room. Structural alterations, new roof with skylights.
Services: design, fabrication, general contractor, installation, finishing. 2020
Cabinetry, aluminium and glass for a large renovation in West Hampstead, London by Crawshaw Architects.
The specialist aspects of our brief included engineering solutions for a smartglass wall with a 3.2m high sliding door (with a bespoke concealed wiring rig) on a 4m track and aluminium panelling throughout the main living space starting from survey through engineering to finishing and installation.
The cabinetry was designed in close collaboration with the architects in order to work in concert with a minimalist, sculptural aesthetic and carefully budgeted around different levels of finish for different rooms. The main living area and master bedroom both feature Fenix NTM exteriors.
Architects: Crawshaw Architects Ltd
Builder: Renova Ltd
Stone: Pure Quartz Ltd
Terrazzo entrance floor panel for a Georgian house in Brixton. The client said the final effect was like “stepping into a box of jewels”
Services: fabrication, installation 2020
Bespoke kitchen for architect Aidan Crawshaw using reclaimed grammar school science benches for the cabinetry. Featuring a one-piece marble sink and counter from Diespeker Ltd.
Private Commission 2017
Restaurant façade in two parts featuring wide sash windows with exposed counterweight mechanisms.
Client: Peckham Refreshment Rooms 2016
Materials: Solid iroko, laminated glass, lead weights, theatre rigging hardware, various hardware including original bauhaus handles, modified espagnolette locks and bespoke security pins.
Services: Design, Fabrication, Installation and Finishing
Salon furniture and built-in joinery for hair stylist genius Tracey Cahoon at her salon in the Peckham Levels.
Laminated birch ply, elm, mirrors, bespoke brass handles and electricity. 2018
Complete renovation of a listed Georgian townhouse in Gladstone St SE1.
Structural alterations, under-street tanking and excavation, brickwork, all new room divisions, high-spec bathrooms and kitchen, all new plumbing with underfloor heating, fire curtains, bespoke hardwood cabinetry throughout, new extension roof with walk-on glass, hardwood decking with steam bent handrails, jib doors, limestone and timber flooring, plastering throughout, cornices, granite and marble counters, marble and slate fireplace, wallpaper, carpet and paint.
Private Commision 2015
Architect: Mowbray Crawshaw LLC
Services: General Contractor, design and draughting, cabinetry, joinery and carpentry, glass and all installation work.
A birch plywood office suite in a carefully preserved 1930’s flat in Belsize Park, North London.
Rather than trying to replicate a period style, my approach was to respect the attitude toward modernity which was current at the time, through the use of common, uniform materials with an emphasis on lightness and clarity.
Private Commission 2014
Materials: Birch plywood, solid birch, steel, aluminium, Soss hinges, cap bolts
Built-in daybed with large rolling drawers.
Private Commision 2018
Materials: Solid elm, elm veneer, birch ply, castors
Reworking of a dressing room in a grand early Georgian house in Brixton, South London. The design brief was to make better use of a rather strange arched niche which seemed to have at one point been an entrance to another part of the house. We took cues from the original woodwork to create a panelled wall with a walk-in wardrobe beyond. The separation of the spaces allowed for a more modern interior.
Private Commision 2017
Materials: Sapele, birch ply, Cedar of Lebanon (solid and veneer)
A compact kitchen in Hackney, North London.
The design goal was to use all the available space without bulky vertical boxes. Part of the cabinetry detaches to allow access to the top-loading washing machine hidden in the corner. The opposite corner houses a top-loading freezer.
Cherry counters, sapele glazed doors and window sills, birch and phenolic plywood cabinetry, linoleum floor, glass and tile.
Private Commision 2013
A pair of wardrobes for the master bedroom of a Victorian house in New Cross, South London.
The house had been obsessively restored with authentic details, but for this project we chose to depart from strict reproduction (Victorian built-ins are generally too shallow). Instead I tried to design something respectful of the room and current feel of the house and used thoroughly traditional cabinetry techniques throughout the build and installation.
Sapele, Cedar of Lebanon (veneer and solid), birch ply, safety glass and brass. Private Commission 2019
