PROPERTY
INTERIORS
INTERIORS
From little acorns How do you go from making wooden jewellery in a school workshop to furnishing The Ritz, Chewton Glen and many of the smartest establishments in Guernsey? Gallery met Ray Griffiths and Diana Camden from Wychwood Design to find out. Words: Caroline Mauger Chances are you’ve sat on, or even slept in, a piece of furniture from Wychwood Design. They have fitted out many of the smartest restaurants and hotels on the island: The Farmhouse, Bella Luce, Les Roquettes, Moores, Dix-Neuf, the Ship and Crown, Pier 17 and Christies, to name but a few. And then there are the many upmarket hotels in the UK; Wychwood is clearly a far cry from the flat-packed, perpetual-sale worlds of Ikea and DFS. Wychwood Design is a true family concern. Established by Ray Griffiths in 1969, his three sons - Simon, Timothy and Jeremy - now work for the company in different capacities. Ray is a former design and technology teacher whose success selling wooden earrings and cufflinks at county shows during the school holidays led to the formation of his own company, initially working from a barn at his home. Based in Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, Wychwood has strong links with Guernsey. ‘I was trying to spread our wings a little so I came over here and met a designer,’ recalls Ray. ‘I said, “It’s hard work getting business in Guernsey” and he replied, “You won’t get it if you don’t come,” so I began to come regularly and our first arrangement was with the late Andre Sendlhofer at Sarnia Hotels.’ Andre had just built an extension to Les Roquettes and Ray furnished
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all 28 bedrooms. ‘I remember ringing the careers master at the boys’ school to see if they had any students who could help to offload the furniture in the holidays. So that was the foundation of the relationship over here and since then we’ve done huge amounts of work.’ The company’s furniture and joinery are not only in the island’s hotels and restaurants, but in offices and private homes
too. ‘We’re very proud of the fit-out of the nurses’ home at the hospital, all in cherry,’ says Diana Camden, who has worked for the company for more than 20 years. Marina View and Glategny Court are other prestigious projects with high-end specifications for joinery work. A new venture is Val Fleury, the brand new townhouse development in Hauteville. Qube’s Quinten Hubbard has asked
GUERNSEY’S STYLE MAGAZINE