ABOUT US

After completing a degree in accountancy, I sought a change of direction and began my career in kitchens and bathrooms on the installation side of the business. I secured an apprenticeship with one of the installers regularly working for Hobson’s Choice.

Inspired by the showroom and the creativity that came from it, I later downed tools and began design training under the tutorship of the former Managing Director, Tessa Cook. Since purchasing Hobson’s Choice in 2007, my priority continues to be ensuring that, as a company, we provide an unrivalled level of service to our clients. The continued growth and success of Hobson’s Choice has been entirely due to repeat business and recommendation. I will never underestimate the importance of ensuring that every customer of ours remains entirely satisfied.

I consider it a true privilege to have such a high calibre of staff within the company. Working alongside designers with such talent is inspiring and brings a creative excitement to every working day. I also consider it a privilege to be working with some of the very best interior manufacturers in the world. I love so many of the products I specify for clients. I therefore work tirelessly to ensure that my own product knowledge and expertise is such, that I can offer you the very best advice. Technical expertise amongst all of the staff at Hobson’s Choice is an asset that ensures first class product is delivered with a first class service.

However, by far the largest privilege is that our customers bestow their trust in us when they invite us to work on their homes. I recognise that, despite all our planning, numerous presentations, 3D visualisations and, of course, our good reputation; the decision to invest in a project with us is based upon trust and your faith in us to deliver. It is this very element of our business that drives me. I will do everything possible to ensure that an investment with Hobson’s Choice is never questioned.

With a background in architecture, it’s not surprising that my design ethos comes from the architectural world. I find Mies Van De Rohe’s work particularly inspiring. His work has a clear language and rationale to everything. He coined the phrase “God is in the detail”, something I believe important on all my projects and why I particularly love working with bulthaup.

I’m also inspired by classic American car design. Cars such as the 1969 Chevrolet Camaro, created in an age when there was far more design freedom, with the focus on hand drawn design rather than the constraints put on car designers today.

Projects where customers have a similar eye for care and attention to detail are particularly enjoyable, but most satisfying for me is when a client is open minded to new ideas; when they go for something they hadn’t initially considered and feel the outcome is better than they could have ever imagined.

I really enjoy exploring new spatial arrangements with clients to unlock otherwise uninspiring layouts. My personal preference is for open plan contemporary spaces with clean lines, but I also love contrast. I like the mix of old and new materials and engineered and natural products. Stone and veneers for example can be combined to great effect.

James Turrell’s skyspace at Kielder forest is my favourite space. This contemplative space is a hidden gem that provides a stark contrast between interior and exterior within a beautifully minimalist setting.

I’m constantly influenced by many aspects of design and various interior designers such as Christian Liagre, John Pawson and Peter Savill. I feel a connection with those who deliver high end design with restraint, which Is my personal approach to design.

My dream is to build a new home, a minimalist white box with lots of glass. I love natural colours and although white is a favourite of mine, I’m not afraid to make bold choices particularly with darker colours. Space is important to me; I like rooms to be able to breathe and to be lived in to the full.

Architecture is my first love, and I find the use of space and shape In Zaha Hadid’s projects particularly inspiring. During my interior design degree it was one of her spaces that I chose to design for in my dissertation. I particularly love projects with consistent materials and very simple colour palettes, creating a perfect backdrop for family living.

St Thomas Church in Winchester was a particularly exciting project to work on as the conversion into 9 dwellings required 9 kitchens all having to work within different spaces in a building designed for a completely different purpose.

I love interior design and get genuinely excited about the new products and innovations our suppliers produce. As a Sales Administrator I work with the Designers to support their projects and ensure supplier relationships are maintained..

I am proud to have worked at Hobson’s Choice for over 30 years having joined the company when I was 18. Over the years my role has developed but the ethos of the company has remained the same, a passion for great design and excellent customer service.

The most enjoyable element of my role is the customer interaction, whether over the phone, via email or face-to-face, I am very much a people person. I would hope any customer of ours feels that they can contact us at any time, with any query, no matter how big or small.

I first joined Hobson’s Choice in 1990 having originated from a banking background with a brief spell in retail. I’m responsible for a number of day-to-day administrative duties, basic HR tasks, together with ensuring that any enquiries we receive through our website are followed up in a timely fashion.

The benefits of working in a smaller team enables us to keep abreast of the current workload and ensure that we do all we can to help each other when deadlines need to be met. It is, of course, a fantastic environment in which to work, and it is great to see the cutting edge products at first hand. It’s amazing the knowledge you can glean from working in the showroom, which has also helped with designs and decisions for my own home.

I have seen the company change ownership once during my time here; the transition went very smoothly and can be attributed solely to the close working relationship and team spirit that we all enjoy here.

I joined Hobson’s Choice in the summer of 2011 as the company expanded it’s storage and distribution facility with a focus on safe handling and efficient logistics. The components we use to create our kitchens, bathrooms and living spaces are often fragile and finished to an extremely high standard and it is my responsibility to safeguard this level of quality.

After many years of working with the Royal Mail I have gained a wealth of warehouse control and product distribution experience, which I have applied to the new warehouse facility. I treat each of the products as if they were my own to ensure they reach the installation team in the same pristine condition in which they left the factory.

Martin heads up our team of expert installers who ensure that your new room is exactly what the designers and the client are expecting. Martin understands the disruption that can come from installation and ensures that he and his team do everything possible to minimise the impact.