I have always been interested in design, studying art at school and going on to take Art and History of Art at A level. I studied textile design at college in Eastbourne and having graduated I started work for a local fabric design company. My first move into kitchen design was working for a local company in East Grinstead that designed handmade furniture for kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms. This was before any computer generated design systems so I worked at a drawing board using a scale rule and set square! Moving on to work for a very top-end design company based in Surrey, each kitchen designed was a one off, I worked on some very interesting and large projects and my knowledge of materials such as the timber for the cabinets and the stone work surfaces increased. I started to get involved with the project management of each kitchen, and learnt about the processes of installing a kitchen. This meant planning the fit with plumbers, electricians, tilers and decorators.Moving on to manage a showroom, I was in charge, and also had the responsibility for all retail designs across the group. I was introduced to computer design which is a great tool for our business but find it is still very useful to have the drawing and design skills as sometimes the computer is unable to depict my conceptsIn the summer of 2008 I was offered the opportunity of taking the showroom over as my own. This has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember so with trepidation I took over the business and called it Kitchens Bespoke. Starting the business during recession proved a very tough time but I have always worked with an ethic that if you offer a great service and look after your customers you will get those recommendations that are so important in business.