Our Apprentices First KBB Visit - March 2012

Our First KBB Experience

After a 100 mile drive to Birmingham we arrived at the NEC at 11am. We braved the windy weather and took the shuttle bus to the KBB entrance where we received our lanyards and then sold our souls to the barcode zapper lady.  First stop was Vanity Hall, where a wide range of furniture options left us feeling inspired by the limitless possibilities we could achieve in a bathroom.  Zapped once again, we were informed by a sales rep of the new designs they were offering.  This was interesting because it gave us an opportunity to learn more about one of Soak's preferred brands.

           The Vanity hall display showed us a stunning trough double basin which was very eye-catching         

When he had finished explaining the new designs, we moved on to Crosswater, which had a large floor space to exhibit Crosswater, Bauhaus and Simpsons.  They infact had the largest display of the whole show in the bathroom sector. There were some innovative ideas here and again it was fantastic to see so much on display to get real feel for everything they can provide.

After this there were plenty of smaller displays, some of which were not at our market level but still very interesting to see.

A truly inspiring stand was by the Mosaic bath company with free standing baths such as Victoria and Albert which had been completely covered on the outside with beautiful Mosaics.

 

The Mosaic Bath Company had some beautiful baths on display, including a Victoria and Albert bath which we sell

Geberit’s stand stood out from the crowd with demonstrational videos, grouped displays and simple product presentation.  A wall of flush plates showed the different options available as well as an amazing new LED lit, infra-red flush plate.  You don’t touch it, and it learns from the environment when one is hand waving to tell it to flush so doors opening etc would not set it off.

As the day went by we wondered past a lot of displays, and we were personally intrigued by the Thomas Crapper & Company display.  These products were beyond traditional, aiming to replicate what bathroom products were like in 1880’s-1900’s.  One particular design that caught our eye was the toilet seat, which despite being on a rounded w/c was more of a square shape with rounded corners. These are known as throne seats.  There was also a low level cistern which had the flush handle in the middle of the cistern as opposed to on the side.  This is known as the beer-engine handle, and was something we had never seen before.

We then moved on and took a look at some CAD suppliers, talking to Virtual Worlds who are the programe we use and had a little glance at some kitchen displays before calling it a day.

We really enjoyed our day at KBB finding it very insightful to see the different ranges that companies do, especially ones that we do not tend to deal with. We got the chance to see the kind of products that we do not sell, and understand why we choose certain companies over others.  It also gave us the opportunity to see different ranges of products to what we have on display in the showroom, which was really useful.

Over the course of the day, we would say we were most impressed by Vanity Hall.  Although the products on display at the Mosaic bath company were breathtaking, and Thomas Crapper + Company’s display was truly inspiring, we felt that the number of different innovative designs on offer at Vanity Hall topped them.  They had a new range of contemporary units which were very sleek in design, and a wooden range which was also very well designed.  We quickly learnt that Vanity Hall would make any size that was required, and could produce a unit for almost any basin, which is a very helpful feature.

It is such a shame that more of our suppliers chose not to display at KBB, instead using the European exhibitions to launch new product.  For us it would be a great opportunity to see more of our suppliers' products in the flesh which would otherwise prove difficult to do, and without seeing things it can be a challenge to always sell on to our clients. But we're not ones to shy away from a challenge...

This fabulous Jena Showerbath by Marmorin is the winner of a Red Dot design award

Kristel & Rob - The Soak in Style Apprentices