Your Guide to Creative China
Imondi
Published October 20, 2011
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"There's a certain romanticism to it all, I think," muses Robin Dell, before shrugging his shoulders and smiling, "I guess I'm just really, really passionate about it!" You wouldn't guess it, but he's talking about wood, specifically the reclaimed variety, currently being given a new lease of life by his company, Imondi and being reincarnated as gorgeous, characterful and eminently desirable wooden floors.
Housed in the former rectory of Hengshan Community Church, Imondi HQ is abuzz: a shipping container of 200-year old water poles from the Venetian Lagoon is slowly wending its way to the firm's factory in Dalian. Having served their purpose admirably, the local Venetian government has decided, in their wisdom, that these ancient sentries need to be replaced. Indeed, as we flick through pictures of the time-worn timbers, Robin points out the indentations of tethered boats, the discolouration of a million seagulls' droppings... but still, they're magnificent. "They're a bit of a mess right now, but they're going to make some pretty incredible flooring."
Floors from reclaimed materials now makes up some 50% of the British-owned company's business, with China being their biggest market. Beautiful, historical and unique, the appeal of these often antiquated floorings is clear enough – that they're also environmentally friendly is very much in keeping with Robin's vision for Imondi, and commitment to sustainability.
Case in point: he has recently completed all floors at luxurious and newly-opened getaway, naked Stables Private Reserve, tucked away in the leafy environs of Moganshan. As with all non-reclaimed Imondi products, they're made entirely from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) trees, with the retreat using three different finishes to beautiful effect, perfectly matching naked's own environmental ethos.
"FSC basically means wood from forests that are sustainably managed, but importantly they also have a chain of custody process – they follow the wood from the very beginning to the very end so that when you're buying it you know what you're getting. There's not so many of these forests in China – definitely more than ten years ago – but we end up buying most of ours in Europe. A lot of what's available comes from Russia: it's illegally logged, oak especially, then shipped across the border. A lot of people talk about what's going on in Indonesia in terms of deforestation and illegal logging but it's happening closer to home too..."
Whilst the naked floors are lovely, it's the reclaimed materials we find most fascinating, and clearly where Robin's passion lies. Like those aforementioned Venetian timbers, another recent acquisition has a similarly watery history: a container full of traditional Indonesian fishing boats "They're all hand-painted and just stunning", beams Robin. "They're too old to be of use to the fisherman – they use more commercial trawlers now, so we're using a material that will be thrown away or burnt, and giving them a second life".
"What we do is dismantle them in Indonesia for packing purposes. They then go to Dalian where we remove all the nails and then we have to dry the wood and flatten it out – it's a boat, remember. Very often with these boats they've been hand-painted, so you get all these different coloured paints which we're leaving on. Sometimes the paint chips off a little bit, or the water soaks into the wood, but it's all part of the character. When I opened the factory all of what we were doing was new wood, and of course we're still well known for our our new wood floors, but 50% of what we're doing now is the old wood and it's really growing – I'd love it to be 100% one day!"
Of the 22 countries globally with Imondi installations, China has by far the most, where the company work directly with a veritable who's who of designers and architects on projects ranging from retail to residential. Although the Middle Kingdom doesn't offer Robin and his team quite the same richness of reclaimed materials as, say, the States (lots of old wooden barns in Kentucky, apparently), the near-nationwide tearing down of old properties presents certain possibilities.
"What we're working hard on now is sourcing reclaimed timber in China, it's a bit more difficult – we can find a lot of pine and that reddy-brown floor you see everywhere but I'd like to find more oak. We just completed the floor for the new el Willy restaurant on the Bund – it's several hundred square metres, so we ended up using lots of floors from different houses and putting them together. There's lots of opportunity to reclaim stuff in China, the only problem is it's mostly pine – it's a very soft wood and not suited terribly well for flooring".
Where, I wonder, does one hear about decommissioned Venetian water poles, Indonesian fishing boats and Kentucky barns? "That's the most difficult part – finding interesting bits of wood, I'm always ringing around looking for new and interesting sources. We once worked on an old aircraft factory – they made World War II planes and along with the wood we got a load of old photos and you could see the old wooden walls and the floors where the planes were being assembled. We bought an old textile factory in India recently too... A lot of people involved in reclamation are just looking to make some quick and easy money, sometimes they're not so honest.. we've had our fingers burnt a lot, you've got to be careful".
Right now, Imondi are working on a whole slew of hospitality projects in and around China, adding to their already robust repertoire of the likes of Shanghai's Waterhouse and Peace hotels, Dunhill Villas and the Peninsula's Georg Jensen store. Although passionate about the history, romance and sustainability of old timbers, for Robin, the possibilities beyond that are similarly endless: "You know, we just finished a car showroom: it's all that really raw concrete look, all black and metal. We came up with a finish that's black with silver inside the grain of the floor – it's really cool! I love what I do, and all the possibilities out there... if you spend time and are passionate you can do some really interesting, unexpected things... and all with wood!"
***********************************************************************************************************************************
For more details and to contact Imondi, check their website here
Housed in the former rectory of Hengshan Community Church, Imondi HQ is abuzz: a shipping container of 200-year old water poles from the Venetian Lagoon is slowly wending its way to the firm's factory in Dalian. Having served their purpose admirably, the local Venetian government has decided, in their wisdom, that these ancient sentries need to be replaced. Indeed, as we flick through pictures of the time-worn timbers, Robin points out the indentations of tethered boats, the discolouration of a million seagulls' droppings... but still, they're magnificent. "They're a bit of a mess right now, but they're going to make some pretty incredible flooring."
Floors from reclaimed materials now makes up some 50% of the British-owned company's business, with China being their biggest market. Beautiful, historical and unique, the appeal of these often antiquated floorings is clear enough – that they're also environmentally friendly is very much in keeping with Robin's vision for Imondi, and commitment to sustainability.
Case in point: he has recently completed all floors at luxurious and newly-opened getaway, naked Stables Private Reserve, tucked away in the leafy environs of Moganshan. As with all non-reclaimed Imondi products, they're made entirely from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) trees, with the retreat using three different finishes to beautiful effect, perfectly matching naked's own environmental ethos.
"FSC basically means wood from forests that are sustainably managed, but importantly they also have a chain of custody process – they follow the wood from the very beginning to the very end so that when you're buying it you know what you're getting. There's not so many of these forests in China – definitely more than ten years ago – but we end up buying most of ours in Europe. A lot of what's available comes from Russia: it's illegally logged, oak especially, then shipped across the border. A lot of people talk about what's going on in Indonesia in terms of deforestation and illegal logging but it's happening closer to home too..."
Whilst the naked floors are lovely, it's the reclaimed materials we find most fascinating, and clearly where Robin's passion lies. Like those aforementioned Venetian timbers, another recent acquisition has a similarly watery history: a container full of traditional Indonesian fishing boats "They're all hand-painted and just stunning", beams Robin. "They're too old to be of use to the fisherman – they use more commercial trawlers now, so we're using a material that will be thrown away or burnt, and giving them a second life".
"What we do is dismantle them in Indonesia for packing purposes. They then go to Dalian where we remove all the nails and then we have to dry the wood and flatten it out – it's a boat, remember. Very often with these boats they've been hand-painted, so you get all these different coloured paints which we're leaving on. Sometimes the paint chips off a little bit, or the water soaks into the wood, but it's all part of the character. When I opened the factory all of what we were doing was new wood, and of course we're still well known for our our new wood floors, but 50% of what we're doing now is the old wood and it's really growing – I'd love it to be 100% one day!"
Of the 22 countries globally with Imondi installations, China has by far the most, where the company work directly with a veritable who's who of designers and architects on projects ranging from retail to residential. Although the Middle Kingdom doesn't offer Robin and his team quite the same richness of reclaimed materials as, say, the States (lots of old wooden barns in Kentucky, apparently), the near-nationwide tearing down of old properties presents certain possibilities.
"What we're working hard on now is sourcing reclaimed timber in China, it's a bit more difficult – we can find a lot of pine and that reddy-brown floor you see everywhere but I'd like to find more oak. We just completed the floor for the new el Willy restaurant on the Bund – it's several hundred square metres, so we ended up using lots of floors from different houses and putting them together. There's lots of opportunity to reclaim stuff in China, the only problem is it's mostly pine – it's a very soft wood and not suited terribly well for flooring".
Where, I wonder, does one hear about decommissioned Venetian water poles, Indonesian fishing boats and Kentucky barns? "That's the most difficult part – finding interesting bits of wood, I'm always ringing around looking for new and interesting sources. We once worked on an old aircraft factory – they made World War II planes and along with the wood we got a load of old photos and you could see the old wooden walls and the floors where the planes were being assembled. We bought an old textile factory in India recently too... A lot of people involved in reclamation are just looking to make some quick and easy money, sometimes they're not so honest.. we've had our fingers burnt a lot, you've got to be careful".
Right now, Imondi are working on a whole slew of hospitality projects in and around China, adding to their already robust repertoire of the likes of Shanghai's Waterhouse and Peace hotels, Dunhill Villas and the Peninsula's Georg Jensen store. Although passionate about the history, romance and sustainability of old timbers, for Robin, the possibilities beyond that are similarly endless: "You know, we just finished a car showroom: it's all that really raw concrete look, all black and metal. We came up with a finish that's black with silver inside the grain of the floor – it's really cool! I love what I do, and all the possibilities out there... if you spend time and are passionate you can do some really interesting, unexpected things... and all with wood!"
***********************************************************************************************************************************
For more details and to contact Imondi, check their website here
