Handmade or hand-selected, we're proud to support exquisite craftsmanship and specialist skills. Join us as we sit down with artisans, curators and designers in our Meet The Designer series.
Restoring elegance to industrial metals, Proper Copper Design aims to inspire customers with its minimal designs that compliment a modern home. We sit down with Managing Director Khan Erkeksoy to find out more about their material choices and design process.
What is your background and how did Proper Copper Design get started?
My name is Khan and I am the creator of Proper Copper Design, an innovative homeware workshop in Brighton that celebrates both the aesthetic and functional qualities of industrial materials. I am a carpenter by trade and my passion began when I refitted my kitchen at home with reclaimed pallet wood and a handcrafted tap made from copper, which ages naturally over time. I was amazed at copper's versatility and I began to experiment piecing together minimal designs, ranging from hanging pan-racks to outdoor showers.
Before long I had acquired a small team of passionate makers with backgrounds in architecture, pottery and graphic design. In 2017, we were fortunate to find the ideal workshop space nestled in suburban Poets Corner just a short walk from the beach. Having this space has allowed us to nurture our playful design ideas and freely try out new techniques developing a vast range of products and colourful copper finishes.
I am proud of our most recent exhibit at 100% Design, Olympia where we created a labyrinth copper water feature in which the water circulates a mirror, flows into a sink unit and back up the wall in a loop. The tranquil sound of running water and the symmetry of the show piece epitomises our clean design style for the future.
What do you specialise in?
We handcraft kitchen hardware that is suited to various interiors from industrial conversions to traditional country homes. Our taps are customisable in their size, shape and numerous finishes, from oxidized black to a unique marbled patina. We have found that our clients will usually like to purchase the appropriate handles and knobs to match.
Our new catalogue of handles guides you through our ranges from chunky chrome and copper pulls to earthy wood and brass, which can transform your cabinets. Offering our bespoke service gives us the opportunity to collaborate creatively, working directly with clients, inspiring projects and developing new skill sets, which is something we all enjoy.
“Copper is an antimicrobial material that naturally kills all viruses and bacteria within two hours of contact with its surfaces. It has had many uses throughout history as a healing tool for detoxification and to purify water. This makes copper an ideal choice for your kitchen or bathroom.”
Copper is obviously your material of choice. Why is this?
Where do I begin? Initially, I was drawn to its stylish design aesthetics and the warm rose glow of pure copper as well as it's malleable quality which makes it enjoyable to craft.
Copper is an antimicrobial material that naturally kills all viruses and bacteria within two hours of contact with its surfaces. It has had many uses throughout history as a healing tool for detoxification and to purify water. This makes copper an ideal choice for your kitchen or bathroom.
Unlike other metals copper is fully sustainable and is not harmful to have in your home – quite the opposite, it has been said to be positive to regularly come into contact with it.
We love working with copper because of it's endless possibilities for design and with only the use of household products we can adapt it's colour and texture from a high gloss shine to an ocean warn verdigris.
Can you tell us more about your collections?
We are currently developing a concise catalogue of our products that will be available on our new website with specific details for buyers in the industry. In order to create this, our team is following an innovation plan perfecting each category from kitchens to gardens.
Our collections feature marbled copper, which is burnished to produce galactic swirls of colour. This patina can be purchased as a collection of bathroom accessories, shower and towel rail for a truly imaginative décor.
And what about the design process?
There is no hierarchy in our workshop, so the early design phase is an open discussion and sketching out drawings. We like to try out the same idea, for example a tap design, interchanging the levers, lengths, curves and bolts so that we create multiple results from one idea.
We always carry a notepad around with us during the day so that if a concept springs to mind we will develop it in the future and in order to expand our knowledge we allow ourselves the time to get side tracked by research.
We choose only the very best designs to take to the prototype phase, test and photograph. This process must be as fluid as possible so that our innovations are on the market in fast succession.
What are your best-selling items?
We are often producing handles in large batches for customers' kitchens in the two most popular finishes - natural copper and satin lacquered. The copper is first sanded and worked through a series of finishing stages to expose the materials bare service. We then polish the copper to a satin finish which will gradually age over time, darkening in colour to a variety of rustic tones.
The satin finish naturally reflects the light and we apply many coats of marine lacquer to protect its soft-to-touch surface for many years. Our kitchen storage collections, such as hanging pan racks, rails, and shelving, are perfect for freeing up space whilst also being stylish. These have proven to be very popular.
Where do you find inspiration?
As a collective, we never struggle for inspiration and we bounce ideas off of each other from an image in a magazine to a daring idea for a statement piece. We are inspired by minimalist bathroom interiors that have a spacious and calming feel with subtle uses of colour, natural materials and botanical prints. We believe our products would work well in spa and wellness spaces.
Second to this, we embrace the industrial style and love to see factories and historical buildings that have been transformed into contemporary living spaces without loosing the historical charm and original features of the property.
Can you tell us about your workshop space?
Our workshop in Hove is an historical building that is filled with natural light and is a clean balance of studio space and makers benches. Nestled in a suburban terraced road, we moved into the space with a few small businesses and a gin brewery below.
The workshop building was originally a casket makers and afterwards a printmakers. When we arrived we first removed the printing table, which had been in the middle of the room for fifty years, revealing a huge open space where I built two solid workbenches recycled from the table's wood. My partner Charlie is a mural artist and painted a koi carp pond mural on the floor to bring us good luck.
As a team, we work together in a relaxed environment growing our own vegetables on the balcony and taking it in turns to cook for each other. We believe that the well-being and happiness of our team of makers is of the utmost importance to keeping our creativity and energy at its peak. Learning is a gift and I hope to expand our workshop into a training academy in which we will teach more young people our craft and hire them on their passion over their qualifications.
What style of décor inspires you?
We really love iconic industrial spaces in urban locations with their unfinished rawness in many of the elements from exposed brick and timber to vintage factory pulley systems. We admire the way that designers cleverly renovate each room into a huge living space that is both functional and comfortable without loosing its former character.
What does a typical working day look like for you?
We all start the day together with a catch-up on ongoing projects and orders over a cup of coffee. We divide up the team, into roles of completing orders, liaising with clients and ensuring innovation projects are included. The beginning of the week is spent crafting all of our natural products for customers and posting them around the World.
The workshop is a hive of activity and we share the variety of work by having bespoke orders and product prototypes being designed alongside the production line at all times. At the end of the week, we create all of our specialist finishes on homeware, which will be sent to our local lacquering team to be expertly coated.
What exciting updates and developments can you tell us about?
As I mentioned earlier, we are very excited to be releasing all of our homeware products in a catalogue and on our new site, which we will be launching next month. We have worked hard to perfect our finishes to ensure we are only offering the highest standard of craftsmanship and quality.
We will be releasing our collection of unusual taps, showers and furniture. We will be creating one iconic show piece that will explore the incredible versatility of copper and will be exhibited to the public during the launch of our water features, which I am sure will be a fun challenge for our team to invent.
It is set to be a hard-working year but we are confident that it will be a rewarding one!
We would like to thank Khan for taking the time to talk to Warehouse Home. For more information, visit the website.
