Everything we do and the success of every project is totally dependent on the talent, experience and dedication of our staff. Our customers expect the highest quality furniture at a sensible price and good old fashioned service. deVOL is a design led firm and all of our design staff have been chosen because they are highly creative. We are lucky to be in a market town with one of the highest ranking Universities in the Country. Loughborough University and Art College are particularly renowned for the best design courses; ranging from Fine Art to Textiles to Industrial design.
deVOL has flourished because of this rich vein of creative talent for over 20 years. Featured below are deVOL's design staff, Directors and Managers. When customers ring to discuss their project they often comment that it's nice to put a face to a voice. Many of our creative staff have varied interests and our very popular blog gives a personal insight into their lives.
Visit our Blog to hear more from our staff...
View a video of our carpenters at work...
Robin started a one year placement at deVOL in 2005 and returned as a permanent member of staff after completing his degree in Industrial Design and Technology at Loughborough University with a First Class Honours degree.
Robin started selling his wood turnings at a shop in Worcester at the age of ten. By the age of twenty, Robin had acquired an extensive home workshop, including two lathes. He has an incredible knowledge of the properties of even quite rare timbers, as well as a thorough knowledge of traditional carpentry techniques.
With the practical skills he has at his disposal, Robin quickly become a highly regarded member of our design & development team and became influential in streamlining production, working closely with Ben Creed. He also ensured that each cabinet met our specifications to minute tolerances.
Robin was promoted to Production Manager in 2008 and to a share-holding Managing Director in 2011. From the moment Robin walked into my shop as a student with an oar sticking out of a hold-all, he has never ceased to impress. Robin is as ambitious and dedicated as he is talented and trustworthy. deVOL kitchens Ltd will no doubt continue to flourish as Robin slowly but surely takes responsibility for everything that makes deVOL special; the most important being our staff, who are an exceptional bunch of creative, honest and hardworking people.
Robin's interests include renovating property, white water kayaking and building vintage motorcycles.
Helen was employed by Benetton in 1984 and became a store manager in 1985. Over a ten year period, as Benetton opened new stores throughout the East Midlands, Helen recruited new staff, selected managers and ensured each store was running smoothly.
After a lengthy sabbatical raising a family, Helen joined deVOL where she quickly proved that she has the wherewithal to guide prospective clients through the kitchen design process.
Helen is a keen chef, and has attended a cookery course in Tuscany with two of her sisters. The course was hosted by Giancarlo Caldesi and was televised on BBC2's "Return to Tuscany" in 2006..
Helen was promoted to the position of Creative Director in 2011 after being given the task of redesigning deVOL's kitchen displays. Helen now uses her creative skills to full effect by bringing her own things as well as sourcing new objects to dress our photo shoots. Helen's skills as a photography stylist have resulted in some of the most stunning interior shots we have ever taken.
Helen remains the first point of contact for deVOL clients seeking inspiration with their kitchen project. Helen's interests include renovating period properties, cookery, travel and interior design.
John achieved a First Class Honours degree from Buckingham Chilterns University College in 2005 and worked as a kitchen designer and project manager for Laings in Edinburgh until joining deVOL in 2010.
John's Furniture Design and Manufacture degree and his experience in the industry made him an ideal candidate to join our team of kitchen designers. Since joining deVOL, it became clear that John's manufacturing knowledge and project management experience qualified him to not only design kitchens but to oversee the whole project through to completion.
For a project to run perfectly to plan requires a meticulous approach and an unflappable attitude. John has proven himself to be the perfect man for the job and customers are reassured by his obvious expertise and warm and friendly manner.
John enjoys helping his family out on occasion, making furniture and doing interior refurbishments, but mostly is happy going to the odd gig and having a night out with friends.
Jenny graduated in Fine Art from Wimbledon School of Art in 2004 and then trained as a tailor in Eton making and altering dress suits for Eton College boys. Jenny moved here in 2005 to be with her partner, racing driver Steve Jelley, whose family business Jelson Homes is based in Leicestershire.
Looking for a creative job in the area led Jenny to walk into our old shop in Quorn. Although Jenny seemed perfect for a design job, we didn't have any vacancies, so I asked if she would be willing to paint furniture. Jenny was keen to get a foot in the door and was happy to spend the next couple of years in overalls, hand-painting furniture down in the workshops. When a design job became available Jenny finally joined the kitchen design team in 2007. Jenny proved to be a very versatile member of staff, helping out in the flooring and underwear businesses when needed.
Jenny went on to work for Likeminded design agency in Leicester in 2008 and then set up her own Illustration and Graphic Design agency called "Quite nice". Jenny returned to deVOL in 2010 and now works for 3 days a week in our kitchen design office.
Jenny and her now fiancé, Steve had their second house built in 2011 and in the summer Jenny spends many weekends attending race meetings as Steve Jelley has competed in successive championships in F3, GP2, British Touring cars in 2008 and 2009 and now in the Porsche Carrera Cup Championship. In quieter moments Jenny enjoys yoga, drawing and travelling. She has recently visited Bali, Malasia, Australia & Berlin and will be visiting South Africa in the New Year.
Katie graduated from Nottingham Trent University in 2009, specialising in print and embroidery; her style focused on graphical line drawings of iconic London imagery. Soon after graduating Katie started working in our flooring business Floors of Stone Ltd. Katie was excellent with customers and gained expertise in all aspects of sales, logistics and customer service. Katie became office supervisor as the business grew, until she was offered a place on the kitchen design team.
Katie had always been interested in Interior design so the move satisfied her desire to use her creative skills in her job. Katie quickly got up to speed designing on CAD and enjoys guiding clients through the design process.
Katie spends her time renovating and decorating her house, making all her own soft furnishings, prints and pictures. She has also taken part in craft fairs exhibiting her paper design work, cards and bags.
Katie likes Music gigs and festivals, walking her Labrador and travelling; with recent trips to Barcelona and Portugal.
Ben graduated with a 1st class honours degree from Loughborough University in 2011. During his placement year he worked at the renowned Moscow design house, Art Lebedev. He also developed a new concept in footwear, The Zoo Shoe, which allows the wearer to zip on a range of flexible designer uppers to the sole. Ben was awarded an Enterprise Bursary for his innovation to help with the patenting costs.
During our annual visits to the degree shows, we were fascinated by Ben's off the wall approach to design. He doesn't just design a product, he scrutinises the whole experience and re-invents it. After his time in Moscow he found it strange that here in England, supposedly a tea loving nation, the making and drinking of tea is such a lacklustre experience. After all, ordering a coffee from the best high street cafes is all about choice, grinding, aroma and frothiness, with the equipment and preparation deliberately elaborate to entice and caress the consumer. Drinking tea, on the other hand, is generally a mundane affair; a dribbling pot is plonked unceremoniously on the table and you're good to go.
At Ben's degree show, we were drawn to an unidentifiable object that after much deliberation, we all decided was very beautiful, but we didn't have a clue what it was, or what it did. Once we caught up with Ben, we were transported to a fanciful world where having a cup of tea became an ethereal experience of grinding pressed leaf tea bricks with a pestle and mortar, blending and selecting infusing time and temperature with quirky Cleudo type characters around an inlayed radial dial.
Having Ben on our design team has introduced a freshness of style that is not limited by preconceptions or governed by practicality. Working with the best cabinet makers around and with experienced designers that know everything about working with wood, Ben now plays a pivotal role in the creation of our new range of household interior products. It's a mouth watering journey which we hope will lead to deVOL being recognised as a design house and not just another kitchen company.
Ben qualified with distinction from Hereford Technical College as a cabinet maker in 1989 and worked for Paul Somers Interiors and Woodgate Woodcraft Ltd gaining valuable knowledge from experienced craftsmen. Ben returned to college in 1992, and excelled in successive courses, namely: a BTEC in Art & Design, an HND in Textiles and finally a first class honours degree in Multimedia. Ben's college work was selected for 100% Design and The New Designers exhibition where he won the prestigious 1997 Designer's Guild Award. Ben's chubby carpet scooter sculptures and other imaginative works have been exhibited in London's Mall Gallery, as well as Durham, Berlin and The Maze Gallery, Turin.
Following his graduation Ben worked for a year designing, making and fitting boat interiors before joining deVOL in 1998 as one of our cabinet makers. After 3 years Ben earned promotion to Workshop Manager. Ben is responsible for maintaining production levels and ensuring that the quality of materials, construction and finishing meet deVOL's extremely high standards. Ben's unique blend of talents and experience are highly valued, and his creative input is regularly sought by the design team. Ben's charming and unassuming nature endears him to all of our clients who clearly appreciate his attention to detail and his aesthetic viewpoint.
Tom joined deVOL in August 05 and assisted with the development of deVOL's new offices. Tom spent 3 seasons working as a ski technician in Les Deux Alpes.
Many of these specialist manual skills were transferable to cabinet making and furniture finishing. Tom also ran his own catering business in the Isle of Man between 2002 and 2005.
Tom is such a warm and supportive character and after a few years of training and making furniture at deVOL he became the natural choice for new apprentices to turn to for help. He was promoted to Assistant Workshop Manager in 2008 and now that deVOL have two workshops Tom is effectively the workshop manager for much of the time.
Tom's a keen snowboarder and is a blues guitarist and vocalist. Tom spent some time in our creative department who produce the tracks for our website slideshows and videos. You can see and hear him play on our workshop video in the quality section of our website. Since joining deVOL Tom has become a proud Father of two lovely daughters.
Tim Graduated with a 2:1 from Lincoln University in May 2007 and joined deVOL that June. Tim's portfolio of work showed varied interests, social documentary and experimental film photography as well as stunt BMX videos taken during trips to Spain and Texas.
Tim has stayed with deVOL since graduating, photographing furniture at our studios and on location at our client's houses. His photo's have appeared in numerous national interior magazines and newspapers.
Tim has also taken nearly all the photo's and video for our other companies, with work ranging from filming our underwear model striding around a Nottingham shopping centre in his pants to the meticulous photo's of natural stone floor tiles that show every subtle difference in hue and texture.
Working closely with Helen Parker as our stylist, Tim has taken some of the highest quality interior and still life product photo's we have ever produced; photographs which finally do our products justice. Working with an in-house photographer on a daily basis seems to be the only way to achieve such stunning results.
Tim's dedication and versatility has earned him the position of Design Office Manager and he now oversees the work of our other graphic and web designers as well as organising our advertising campaigns, IT support and on-going SEO.
Tom graduated from Loughborough University in 2007 with a 2:1. I remember Tom's degree show in detail. Fine Artists at Loughborough have plenty of space to display their wares, but after 20 odd years of degree shows I found the trip around the Fine Art studios was done at an increasing pace. You glance into a space and can tell instantly that it's not your cup of tea; so rather than take a closer look and feel guilty for walking in and then leaving a space quickly while the artist looks on, becoming ever more demoralised by the lack of interest, you just walk on by and only stop if something hits you as being different from the usual. Increasingly, Fine Art is not about paintings on a wall but just as likely to be video, animation, noise; often in a purpose made darkroom where the visitor is hopefully captivated enough to see the whole show.
Tom's video installation was a confusion of printed circuit boards, nondescript assorted body parts and excruciating static interference that assaulted the eyes and ears. It certainly wasn't relaxing, but it did hold my interest fully, and left me wanting to meet the man behind it all. Tom turned up and there was something about him and his ideas that was almost irresistible.
4 Years later Tom was the mainstay of our design department; in the top 3 graphic designers I've ever worked with, building websites, designing brochures and packaging, doing SEO and entertaining everyone with his edgy self-effacing wittiness.
Alas, and not for the first time Australia has enticed one of my favourite colleagues away, but this time I couldn't bear to lose him, so we found a solution. Tom lives in Australia and discovers a new way of life, but continues to work for deVOL. We give him a project at close of play and in the morning it's done. Since we email everything, it really doesn't matter if he's in the next office or in his condo in Melbourne.
Tom graduated from Loughborough University with a 2:1 in Fine Art in 2011. Loughborough is pretty old school when it comes to Fine Art; they like to keep hold of the traditional disciplines of painting and drawing. Tom just got sick of seeing paintings all around the place. "I decided not to do painting. I'm just not good at it. I'm not very good at football either and so I just don't play football." Playing around with digital media and photography on the Fine Art course at Loughborough was a bit different, but Tom was happy to be a bit rebellious. He became fascinated by social media:
"A lot of people live their lives like an open wound. They go into it blind and then end up going: What? Does that really happen? Then it becomes obsessive and they forget to get on with their lives". Tom's degree show was an interactive installation which questioned the invasion of privacy and the constant distractions online. Visitors became the exhibits and their reactions were broadcast live.
Tom has been working closely with Tom Francis updating our websites and advertising. The design office is such a creative environment where talented designers and artists bring their skills and interests together. It's a very rewarding place to work and mimics Tom's personal artistic interests.
"When I finished my degree I wanted to get involved with some kind of Art Collective, and that seems to be happening right now. Outside of deVOL I have become a member of Vanilla Galleries and we have rented an old Cash & Carry warehouse in the cultural quarter of Leicester, near the Phoenix and Curve Theatre. We have space for 18 artist's studios and we will hold regular exhibitions and have a coffee shop open to the public hopefully". The space is called 'Two Queens'.
After graduating with a 2:1 from Swansea University, Andy travelled around Central and Eastern Europe for a few months before joining deVOL's sister company Floors of Stone Ltd as a Book-keeper in February 2008. He became manager later that year, until leaving in June 2009 to continue with his Accountancy qualifications at a Warwickshire firm Telent Ltd. Having completed his CIMA exams Andy was invited to re-join the deVOL group of companies as our Company Accountant. Employed by deVOL kitchens Ltd, Andy is now responsible for the Financial Management of the kitchen business, but also oversees the accounts of deVOL's other companies: Floors of Stone Ltd, Shreddies Ltd and The Good Floor Store.
Andy has proven to be a conscientious and trustworthy member of the management team in his previous and current position. It's always a good sign when a valued member of staff returns to the fold. In his spare time Andy likes working on his house, reading and following The Arsenal.
Paul graduated from Loughborough University in 1987 with a 2:1 and co-founded Insight Design Consultancy which had a strong ergonomic bias and won commissions from The M.O.D, The Royal National Hospital Bath and Cranfield Business College. In 1989 Paul followed his yearning for design and production with one of the design partners, Philip deVries and co-founded deVOL (the name being an amalgamation of their initials). deVOL began specialising in freestanding kitchen furniture in 1993.
The emerging style was a reflection of Paul and Philip's affinity with simple Georgian and Victorian furniture from Ireland, England and Wales. Some other notable influences include Shaker, Scandinavian, French and Eastern European cabinetry. In 2004, 2005 and 2006 Paul received a commendation in The Kitchen Designer of the Year Awards.
Paul became sole proprietor in 1998 and has continued to build on deVOL's reputation through his determination to produce the highest quality cabinetry and maintain a strong design ethic. deVOL design kitchens for clients as far afield as Hawaii, Ireland, France and Iceland and now have two showrooms in Japan, opened by Japanese entrepreneur Masaya Fujita. Paul says "It's quite funny seeing your brochure in Japanese; they love everything English. The cabinets we send over to Japan are about 60mm shorter, which doesn't sound much, but it looks quite odd. Mr Fujita is design driven; after 10 years in business he came over to study at St Martins College of Art and to find the right English made furniture. I'm so chuffed to be exporting to Japan. Whoever may have thought that English cabinet making was a dying art might be surprised by deVOL's success through the recession."
Since many of deVOL's clients would ask advice on other aspects of interior design, deVOL began recommending and then selling the flooring that complimented their furniture. Floors of Stone ltd became a company in its own right in 2008 and The Good Floor Store opened in 2011. Paul also spent 3 years working closely with a friend who is a leading fashion designer and together with investment from de Montfort University and a number of Lingerie designers, developed and patented a range of healthcare underwear, which won the ACA 'Look Good Feel Good' Award and were featured in the book 'The History of Men's Underwear'. Paul formed Shreddies Ltd in 2008 which retails his underwear and other healthcare garments.
Paul Appointed a Managing Director for deVOL Kitchens Ltd in 2011, but still plays an active role on a daily basis, particularly on the creative side, directing the design office and writing and designing deVOL's brochures. Paul has been a regular commentator on kitchen design and underwear design in the press; with ask the experts articles in interior magazines and interviews for radio, TV and newspapers. Paul's designs and comments have been featured in wide ranging media coverage from Country Living to Radio One and from The Financial Times to The Daily Star.
Paul loves his garden, playing with the kids, his old Hymer campervan, country walks and country pubs, and would, one day, like to write a book and make a film.
