10 April 2008

Meet Christopher Peacock

Today's New York Times Home and Garden section is dedicated to the humble (or not so humble) kitchen. The lead story is a profile of kitchen designer Christopher Peacock and bears the headline, "The Six-Figure Scullery." Christopher Peacock is the only kitchen designer I can think of who has turned his name into a brand successfully. There are some other eponymous brands out there, e.g. William Ohs, Clive Christian; but those guys were cabinet and furniture makers before they started on kitchens. Christopher Peacock started at a drawing table, just like me.

Anyhow, Christopher Peacock's signature style is a stylized Edwardian throwback and he charges dearly for his look and his wares. He's important because his aesthetic is catching on faster than his name and I have had a rash of people requesting things that are very similar to his "Scullery" pictured above.

When the Mediterranean and Tuscan styles started to fade away from the popular press I started expecting the new must-have to be a transitional contemporary. And I have done a lot of that sort of design over the last two years. But transitional contemporary hasn't really gelled into a real aesthetic. It seems to me that it's a reaction, nearly a backlash against the overdone Mediterraneans that dominated the design press for years.

Peacock represents something else entirely. His is a genuine, defined aesthetic that stands on its own, it doesn't appear to be a reaction. His designs, as originals, command prices far beyond the budgets of most people. I will not be at all surprised though to see more and more Peacock-inspired rooms to show up in the press and in the minds of the people who call on me. It's interesting stuff and I welcome it whole heartedly. Let me use painted, inset cabinetry and marble counters any day.

3 comments:

  1. I have to tell you, I have a friend that worked for Peacock. Like most genius designers, he's not a great business man. Have you check out Clive Christian's website lately? He's selling perfume!

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  2. He's selling the world's most expensive perfume in fact. I think he's a hack, but I think I'm alone in that.

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  3. I just got a quote for a kitchen at Christopher Peacock Kitchens. According to their calculations my kitchen will cost 500.000 at completion.
    Their web site said "We are not as expensive at you might think."
    What is going on here!!!!
    How not expensive is that!!!

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