SplinterWorks Sculptural Kitchen Designs
4 March 2010
“Never, Never”
One of the things I am forever looking for in my search through Cyberspace is kitchen designs that are different from those used by anyone else. In the end, I suspect, my own kitchen is not going to be all that innovative-because I have neither the money nor the skills to pursue some of the things I have written about, but the idea of something new, something different, something never seen before is a something of a Holy Grail for me, and I’ve spent quite a bit of my life these last two years in search of it.
I bring that up because I think I may well have found the ultimate company kitchen design company. SplinterWorks Sculptural Kitchens creates kitchens that really are sculpture in a lot of regards, but they’re the sort of kitchen that, once installed, becomes the focal point of any home in which they reside.
These are some of the damnedest kitchens that ever was, and the other fascinating thing is that they are all new and all never to be again. In a sense they’re like a novelist showing off his works. At any point in time he will show you what he has written to that point. But, since it’s not yet been written, may not, in fact, have been imagined yet, he cannot show you what he will write tomorrow.
The same is true here-all of the kitchen designs from SplinterWorks are unique, the ultimate originals. They are careful to point out that, although they do have some pieces that are available in limited editions, the bulk of their work is one-off, commissioned projects. What they are showing on their website is not where they are going, but where they have been. With every kitchen they are commissioned to create, they go to the client’s home, conduct in-depth interviews, spend some time in the existing kitchen if there is one (they also work with architects or new houses in blueprint phase) and design something new. The result is both awesome, in the truest sense of the word, and unique, a conversation piece that may well work against itself, simply because I believe the initial response is to render people speechless!
In recent years kitchens have become the center of the home, a change that is taking place for a number of reasons. One is the nesting that is becoming more of a factor as people find their families being increasing fragmented by the many electronic devices, one of which is a computer that, used by unsupervised children, is sure to create its share of problems. So, people tend to have their children use their computers in the kitchen only, and in consequence, people are now gathering in the kitchen.
There is also a tendency towards large, expensive kitchens, and once these are installed in a home, those who commissioned the work tend to want to show of them off to their friends. In consequence people often entertain their guests in the kitchen. In fact, there is even a trend towards second kitchens where the cooking is done so people with the means for such things can entertain their guests in the large only-for-show kitchen. But the other factor in all of this is the design statement that one makes at the heart of one’s home, in the kitchen, and that leads us back to SplinterWorks.
SplinterWorks describes themselves as “pioneers of kitchen design: progressive thinkers who transform the kitchen into a piece of usable art,” and looking at their output, it’s impossible to argue with that assessment. Each of the kitchens we’ve shown here was photographed in a room before being transported for installation onsite. All of them are amazing, but perhaps none more so than the one that tops this blog. I do not want to pass myself off as something I’m not, but I’ve spent a fair amount of my life both building and studying the building designs of others, and looking at what they did here, I have no idea in the world as to how they are able to keep this kitchen upright.
These people are in England. But if one had the money for such things, I have every confidence they could be persuaded to go wherever one might wish for them to be. I suppose the very rich have “people” to surf the Internet for them, but for those with the money for such things, what could be more novel than a kitchen that never was before and never will be again.
Joseph
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2 Responses to “SplinterWorks Sculptural Kitchen Designs”
March 4th, 2010 at 7:39 AM
Wow! Those are truly interesting designs. Good post.
Joe
March 11th, 2010 at 10:56 PM
“I have no idea in the world as to how they are able to keep this kitchen upright”
I take it as a joke. It’s pretty obvious from the arc shape of the base…