Two-tone trend

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The European influence on practice design is filtering through to the UK as practices opt for less rigorous refits, using a variety of display systems, clean, sharp lines, dark woods, white walls and coloured lighting features.

Gone are the days when every conceivable wall space is filled with row upon row of matching stands with base units, and in are special features, from voids in stud walls to backlit displays and frosted perspex. Flooring too has been influenced by trends in interior design, with limestone, polished ceramics and natural fibres creeping into practices and giving wood a run for its money. And when it comes to wooden units, the kitchen trend of darker woods like walnut and teak have been taking over from that old optical favourite of light wood.

Mark Fantom, managing director of Lynx Design, explains that the combination of dark wood units and white walls has been popular for some time now. 'People have moved on from the pale woods to dark cherries, walnut and rosewood and with laminates there's no difference in the cost. I've always liked clean white walls, and they can be softened with graphics.'

The combination of dark units with pale finishes, even off-whites, works well, he says, and these refits are married up with lots of metal, etched and frosted glass and acrylics.

He adds that practice refits are now all bespoke, with a choice of over 1,000 handles. 'It's not like the modular systems of the past, absolutely everything is designed to suit. There's no standard handle and some people now prefer push locks to handles.'

The latest trends in flooring are limestone, polished granite and ceramics, for example in black, as well as vinyl amtico. 'We still use wood effects, but not so much real wood. It's very much driven by what people see when shopping for their homes.'

However, Fantom suggests that while dark units still look good, the trend for high gloss white units, such as the company's North Star line, launched at Optrafair, has taken over. 'It's far and away the most in demand and again it's very much driven by kitchen design.'

And there is good news for practices wanting to refit, as Fantom explains that the prices have not increased in real terms over the past three years. 'The manufacturing and materials costs have come down, while installation has gone up, so while it looks more expensive it doesn't cost more,' he says.

In terms of the actual frame display units, now it's mostly minimalist aluminium and stainless steel bars with in-built security, an important fact given the value of designer frames. These also make the frames the attraction, rather than the units. Shelves are an absolute no-no, says Fantom, unless they are for ancillary products like solutions, as they are 'dust traps, especially glass which has to be cleaned every day'.

Another of the recent Lynx developments is LED back lighting, which allows the colour to be changed behind the acrylic frame bars to any colour in the spectrum.