NELSON DESIGNS FOR
OCTOBER GALLERY

The October Gallery in London’s fashionable Bloomsbury is the first of the capital’s galleries to exhibit cutting edge, contemporary art from a diverse range of global cultures. It also holds various cultural events and even has its own education department that runs workshops for schoolchildren to open their minds to the diversity of current world art.

In addition, the October Gallery is often hired out for cultural and social events. The building itself is a Grade 2 listed, Victorian, Church of England schoolhouse, with large, airy rooms and a picturesque, tiled courtyard, making it a popular venue for visitors and event organisers.

Chili Hawes, a director and founder of the gallery, recently wanted to redesign and refurbish the kitchen. She came across Nelson Commercial Kitchen Equipment through extensive internet searching and was drawn to the breadth of services they offered and the cross section of clients they have worked with. “I knew exactly what I wanted from my kitchen,” explains Chili, “but I also knew I needed to find a company that could work with me to incorporate my ideas into a commercially viable project.”

Chili and her architect decided on many of the design aspects and then turned to Nelson’s commercial kitchen designers to refine the concept into something that would comply with all the relevant legislation.

Not surprisingly, Chili had a very strong input into the aesthetic side of the kitchen and wanted to ensure that it had a strong visual identity, in keeping with the gallery, that wasn’t compromised by its function as a catering kitchen. Nelson solved this by specifying bespoke, brushed stainless steel cupboards and a rosso multicolour granite worktop. The effect is stylish and contemporary yet, at the same time, completely workable as a catering kitchen.

In fact, the gallery has its own, Iranian chef, who cooks lunches for up to 60 people a day. Also, other events can command high numbers of guests so the equipment needed to be sufficiently versatile.

Chili took Nelson’s advice on equipment and the kitchen was fitted with a Blue Seal 6 burner range with an electric convection oven, a Blue Seal salamander, a Gram dairy fridge to augment some existing refrigeration and a top of the range Nelson commercial dishwasher with a 2 minute wash cycle. Storage was considered carefully to maximise every last inch of space so special, pull out cupboards were fitted to the corners while the rubbish area was segregated to reduce the recycling area.

“I love my new kitchen,” says Chili. “It functions brilliantly, stores a huge amount of food and crockery and still manages to look as though it’s an integral part of the October Gallery.”