Interview: Ripples

EXPERT INTERVIEW

Outstanding bathroom designs by Ripples!

Tell us a little about the Ripples brand? Ripples was founded in 1988 by my parents Roger and Sandra Kyme and has grown into an award-winning bathroom retailer renowned for its bespoke bathroom designs, stunning showrooms and innovative bathroom products. Since the first showroom opened in Bath over 30 years ago, Ripples has become a franchise with an impressive portfolio of 13 showrooms nationwide. We offer a truly tailored bathroom service, from product sourcing and design consultancy, through to installation from trusted local suppliers. With a dedicated team of in-house designers, we can help clients with anything from an elegant en-suite to a fun and functional family space or a compact cloakroom.

What is your customer journey from that initial enquiry? All of our client’s requirements are different so we tailor our service to suit their needs. Some clients are just looking for a single product to finish off their bathroom, whilst others are looking for a full bathroom redesign. When a client uses our design service, the process starts with them meeting a Ripples designer in the showroom to discuss their project and ideas. Our designers ensure they have an understanding of who will be using the bathroom, the client’s preferred bathroom style and how much they are looking to invest in their project. Once the key details of the project have been discussed, we then conduct a home visit where we measure the existing room, taking care to note any factors that may influence or effect the final design scheme such as lighting or water flow. After the home visit has taken place, we move on to the design process where our designers review the options available for the client’s bathroom project and research the best design solutions to meet their brief. Our designers are true experts in all aspects of bathroom design and use their experience to consider not only how the bathroom will look and function, but how it will make the client feel. The designer will then showcase their solution during a design presentation, sharing scaled drawings which capture the style, size, layout and overall artistic look of the bathroom, as well as showing the client product samples in the showroom. Once the design has been approved by the client, we produce a detailed technical pack for the bathroom installers to ensure they fully understand the design along with the exact products that will be supplied. As the bathroom redesign gets underway, we continue to check in on progress throughout the project, ensuring the clients dream bathroom becomes a reality.

How have bathroom tastes and trends evolved in recent years? As we emerge from the pandemic, we’re definitely seeing a trend to more multi-functional living and bathrooms have very much become people’s at-home retreats...or as we like to call them , spathrooms! There’s also been a recent resurgence in more traditional bathrooms schemes, with freestanding baths in particular in huge demand at the moment. On the other end of the spectrum, many clients are looking for strong patterned floors with bold tiling, especially in pink and green tones, particularly popular. Special finish brassware is another huge trend, with the majority of clients looking for black or gold finishes for their showers, taps and bath mixers.

Is there a project that you’re particularly proud of? Due to the bespoke nature of our offering, every client has different taste, different requirements and different sized bathrooms so we’re never creating the same scheme twice. I’m therefore really proud of every bathroom that we create because it is genuinely designed to suit the unique requirements of each and every client. As a result, I can proudly say that our client base is made up of around 70% referrals from previous happy customers which I consider to be a huge achievement. Saying all of this, I do remember about 20 years ago that a client wanted a dolphin border tile in his bathroom - the client was delighted but I wasn’t so proud of that one!

What’s your favourite thing about working in the Hampstead and North London area? I’ve previously had showrooms in Mayfair and Marylebone which were great locations but were surrounded by retail and office spaces so there were very few family homes nearby. Contrastingly, this area of London is predominantly residential and is home to many families who have lived in the area for years. As a popular area, this presents us with lots of opportunities to renovate bathrooms in homes that clients have just moved to, as well as designing bathrooms in need of refreshing before going on the market. This area has a real community feel to it and I love the fact that so many of the other businesses locally are independent retailers like myself. In my opinion it also has some of the most beautiful homes in London.