Gundry + Ducker’s Christian Ducker explains why his procurement style is to go for bespoke and tailored – lighting, furniture and frontages
Gundry + Ducker’s Christian Ducker gives three of his procurement favourites
Rankin McGregor light fittings
Choosing light fittings for prominent locations is difficult and there is a tendency to choose either modernist classics or the inoffensive. In situations like this, we design our own fittings that deal with the technical requirements and greatly contribute to the overall design at a comparable cost to an off-the-shelf light fitting. We have a long relationship with Rankin McGregor who fabricates fittings in his workshop in rural Kent. We developed the light illustrated to sit on a counter. It’s formed from a mixture of laser cutting and aluminum spinnings mixed with standard off the shelf components.
Bespoke chairs by Dunstable Joinery
In restaurants chairs play a key role. Not only are there a lot of them, but you spend time in close proximity to them, so making their contribution can be a great challenge. Designing a chair requires time for prototyping and a good working relationship with the manufacturer. Over the years we have designed and developed a number of chairs with Dunstable Joinery. The illustrated club chair is one of a pair we developed for the restaurant Arabica, located at the foot of the Aga Kahn building in King’s Cross.
Patent glazing for shopfront systems
We use components aimed at patent glazed roof light systems to develop bespoke glazed facades, where the scale and budget would otherwise only allow for standard stick system curtain walling. An example is our new glazed facade for Camden Town Brewery. The site is a Victorian mews parallel to brick railway arches. We wanted a glazing system that would sit in this context, reflecting ideas of industry brewing and production. An inverted patent system is directly applied to the inside face of a galvanized self-supporting engineered frame – a simple solution developed with a shop window installer.