Following on from designing the first ‘Concept’ store in Edinburgh for the Size? Retail brand, our design was used across several locations for the JD sports group.

At the Hull Size? Store our concept of using the different elements of a trainer and applying the materials to sections of the store was continued.

The grid shelving arrangement was used across a large section of the wall, providing various versatile shelving options for display.

The new till-point area was designed with the continuing idea of creativity and functionality, the magnetic wall panels have dual uses as a blackboard and innovative window displays were installed to highlight the product.

The primary focus of the Size? store re-design was to allow for creativity within the spaces while displaying the product effectively.

(Photography by Haydn Rydings)

The historic St Clements Old School, Chorlton Green, has been converted into four outstanding, four-bedroom townhouses. To celebrate the completion of building work an open day is being held from 10am – 4pm on Saturday 21 April.

Everyone is welcome to come and view the houses, including the Show House designed by NoChintz.

Please RSVP by Thursday 19th April to hello@ashurstcomms.co.uk

Look out for images of the show house coming soon.

In March 2007, just as we were about to go into recession, the NoChintz brand was created by three friends in a Manchester pub.  We identified an opportunity in the rental property furnishings market for trend-focused furniture at a good price point. From there on we never looked back and NoChintz has developed into a leading creative interiors agency.

We have developed a culture where we are able to be both highly creative and entrepreneurial off the back off sound business practices, you have to be able to deliver creative solutions, and that is what we have done for the last five years.  We identified business excellence from the start, and we have, and still do ensure that every part of our business strives for innovation.

Over the last 5 years we have achieved a lot:

- We have services in all areas of both the commercial and residential interiors markets and have recently added a branding arm.

- We have completed over 1000 projects for no less than 300 clients, many of who you know such as; Canterbury, Natural Retreats, BBC, Harvey Nichols, Urban Splash, JD Sports, Peel Holdings, 3M

- Our work and our Directors have been recognised: NoChintz has been shortlisted for numerous regional and national business awards and our directors have been acknowledged for their leadership and their creative and business skills

- We have grown our creative team to 14 people, all of whom are leaders in their fields.

- We have consistently increased our turnover and profits every year.

We have made mistakes on our journey, but have learned from all of them. We believe that risks go hand in hand with opportunity!

We have had a great start so far, but this is just the beginning.  We are ambitious and have big plans for the brand, we have laid some strong foundations and we will look to make the most of the opportunities that are presented to us. We feel that we are just scratching the surface at the moment, and there is so much more to come.

Thanks to everyone who has helped so far and given us the opportunities that have made us.

We couldn’t think of a better opportunity than our 5th birthday to reveal some random facts about the NoChintz team.

___________________________________________

Amy

*My parents used to have to put padlocks on our kitchen cupboard doors to stop me eating and I still managed to get in!

*I have Three Chickens; Martha, Poppy and Ethel and hope to be starting an egg production line at NoChintz

*My nickname at university was Stella 7.2 – the average amount of seconds it took for me to drink a pint

*I have visited 40-ish states in the USA

___________________________________________

Laura R

*I have been asked to stop donating blood as I’m too much of a liability

*I like sleep…a lot

*I am a stationery geek

*I never swear (ok maybe once when I was really mad!)

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Laura M

*I love documentaries and will often watch The History Channel

*I have the worst singing voice known to man, sadly this fact does not stop me singing

*I waitressed at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships for 3 summers while at university

*I hate surprises – even good ones

___________________________________________

Katie

*I hate goat’s cheese

*I once sung in a band and love singing on karaoke

*I have a 10″ scar running down the middle of my stomach!

*I love Duran Duran

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Leanne

*I have been a massive F1 fan since I was 4

*I made my own zoo from my pets and Insects I collected in jam jars even put my goldfish in my paddling pool

*I hate the sound of people brushing their teeth

*My first gig was a DREAM concert when I was in high school

___________________________________________

Lucy

*I was made in the Sudan

*I have been in a TV show with Diarmuid Gavin

*I walked down the aisle to Monty Python’s ‘Flying Circus’

*My best friend is a Frenchie called Mr.Marcel

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Dominic

*I was England’s strongest schoolboy when 15 years old

*I own a functional fitness gym called Train Manchester, in Castlefield

*I am a mentor to a variety of small creative and leisure businesses across the UK

*I am very interested in nutrition and follows a Paleolithic way of eating

___________________________________________

Natalie

*I love my bike

*I have a kitten called Sidney

*I studied Sports Therapy before becoming a designer

*If I could go back in time it would be to the 60′s

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Over the past 5 years there have been plenty of highlights for the NoChintz team, too many to count. Here are a few stand-out memorable moments from the team.

* Winning our first contract with Urban Splash. The win led to a continuing relationship with the property developer and our longest standing client.

* Our Christmas 2011 party weekend in Wales proved a real ‘insight’ into our quieter team members true colours – the studio has not been the same since!

* In 2009 we were selected as finalists for the Manchester Evening News Young Business Of The Year award. To be recognised by this award amongst so many other successful young business was a great achievement for us and something we are extremely proud of.

* Winning our pitch for a hotel design and FF&E contract with Natural Retreats. This win marked our expansion into the Hotel Sector and our biggest client win so far. Working on the John O’Groats project has been a significant and exciting time for us.

* Hitting the £1million Turn over mark at 4 years.

Over the last 5 years at NoChintz we have travelled far and wide for our projects, design fairs, exhibitions and meetings. Here are a few of Lucy and Natalie’s top travel moments:

Flea Market shopping in Paris…

…then trying work out how to get it all back to the studio

Being the only Brits at the Rotterdam Design week…

Attending the less well-known design events means that we get to see and meet designers that may not exhibit at any of the other design events throughout the year…It also means sometimes we are the only British people there!

Seal spotting in John O’Groats…

Just one of many amazing moments from our hotel project in John O’Groats

The Wallpaper* party in Milan…

Our favourite party of the fair

The Sleepover event in Berlin…

Sleepover Berlin saw 100 hotel innovators gather together at the Michelberger for 24 hours of adventure

Running from a ‘masked’ man in Via Tortona!

An alternative ‘highlight’ of the Salone Internazionale del Mobile

Being stranded abroad by the Volcano ash in 2010…

Followed by a 25 hour coach trip back courtesy of the British embassy

Quinze & Milan Studio tour in Belgium…

 Amazingly inspiring space

Amsterdam…

 A frequent adventure for inspiration and ideas

This March marked Nochintz’s Fifth birthday! To celebrate we’re about to send out a special edition of our monthly newsletter and we will have some fun blogs coming up including the teams birthday wish list and our top travel moments so far.