‘We had been talking for a while about teaming up to form a collaborative kitchen-and-joinery design brand based around our shared love of mid-century interiors,’ says Louis Hagen Hall, one half of the team behind kitchen brand Bysse. ‘I work primarily on concept design, visualisation and layouts, while Tim works on fabrication with our team in the workshop and also handles installations.’ Roles clearly defined, we caught up with the duo a little more to discover what makes a Bysse kitchen so unique…
Can you explain the pricing for a Bysse kitchen? We decided to be upfront by providing guide prices using kitchens we’ve already completed as reference points. We think ‘small’, ‘medium’ or ‘large’ is more relatable than describing dimensions or numbers of cupboards and drawers.
How do you balance kitchen aesthetics with functionality? We treat our kitchens like beautiful pieces of bespoke furniture. We are quite minimal, focusing on refined palettes of warm, natural materials and simple detailing. Creating this aesthetic while producing a functional kitchen requires clever planning of concealed appliances and storage, so it can be kept practical and visually pleasing.
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Which materials do you love working with when designing kitchens? We always use FSC-approved timber for our kitchens. Our favourite is elm, because of its warm mid-century tones and beautiful, distinct grain, but we also work with oak, ash and cherry. We love working with microcement for worktops and splashbacks – it looks like concrete but is more versatile in terms of colour and form and has much greener credentials (it is applied in thin layers on a timber core, so uses less material and is easier to transport).
What makes a great kitchen? A combination of maximising functionality and flexibility, effective storage, atmosphere and aesthetics.
What are you working on right now? We just finished a kitchen in Bristol and are working on a project in south London, where we are providing joinery for the rest of the house. We’re very excited about designing a large kitchen for a mid-century townhouse in north London. We’re also developing products that will be available through our website soon. bysse.co
