With a dedicated in-house facility for the creation and manufacture of bespoke worktops spanning over 27 years, Utopia is forever expanding the possibilities of its solid surface and general worktop ranges and 2024 is no different.
The latest design innovation is a new solid surface undermounted basin with fully matching cowl and worktop in a contemporary clean white colourway, giving a completely new look and greater creative flexibility. This new option can be manufactured in lengths up to 2.8m offering a variety of configurations including the option of multiple basins.
The new Plain White addition brings the number of colourways in the 22mm solid surface collection to eight. Worktops are available in a range of sizes and with optional upstands in three heights, all fabricated on site to the customer’s specific requirements.
Practical and durable, solid surface worktops combine the attractive look of natural stone with the warmth and resilience of a hard-wearing manmade material.
Helen Clark, Head of Marketing at Utopia, comments “Solid surface has always been the ultimate luxury and we expect both the new option to have a seamless worktop with inset bowl and the new solid white colourway to be very popular.”
Utopia has significantly expanded its range of 12mm compact laminate finishes with four exciting new effects and has also widened its availability across its product portfolio. Designed to replicate the colours and textures of natural stone, these slimline worktops are extremely durable and have a solid colour core with a textured stone effect surface for an extremely realistic look.
New for Autumn 2024 are Grey Marble, Desert Stone, Monet Slate and Midnight Onyx, bringing the total number of decors in the range to eight. Utopia has offered 12mm worktops to complement its Contemporary Fitted, YOU and Qube collections for some time and, recognising their wide appeal, is now also making them available across its Original Fitted Collection, enabling retailers and consumers to design a slimline, ultra contemporary looking run of fitted furniture.
Helen Clark, Head of Marketing at Utopia, explains “These beautiful and practical stone effects have proved very popular and feedback from our retailers has shown that there is a real opportunity to team them with our Original Fitted furniture Collection to create a very contemporary look. The addition of these four new decors really does open up the design possibilities even further.”
Clockwise from top left, Monet Slate, Grey Marble, Desert Stone and Midnight Onyx, new 12mm compact laminates from Utopia
Utopia is pleased to announce the appointment of Andrew Green as Business Development Manager for the South West region.
Having begun his career in the Navy, Andrew has over 20 years’ experience in the KBB sector, beginning with a role in kitchen design before moving into sales positions with a number of leading bathroom brands, latterly as a Regional Sales Manager.
Utopia’s Sales Director Gary Matthews comments “Andrew has exactly the skill set and experience to nurture and develop our presence in this important region and we welcome him to the team.”
Andrew comments “I have always been very aware of Utopia’s leading role in the bathroom industry so it’s a real privilege to be part of the team and I’m looking forward to supporting our customers and developing the area. I couldn’t have started at a better time, as Utopia has recently launched its new ZEST Partner Programme and unveiled its new product launch for Autumn 2024.”
Employees at Utopia were delighted to support the charity Breast Cancer Now last Friday, 18 October, by sporting pink garments to work on Wear it Pink Day. Many staff members raided their wardrobes and a whole range of pink clothing was on display at the company’s Wolverhampton headquarters.
This was the latest fund-raising effort by the company which supports a range of local and national charities. Helen Clark, Head of Marketing at Utopia, said “Who doesn’t enjoy the opportunity to dress up in a good cause? Cancer charities are particularly dear to our heart at Utopia as a number of employees have been affected, including our own Liz Green, so we’re delighted to take any opportunity to support them.”
An exciting combination of bold colour and heritage shades marks the latest stage in the evolution of Roseberry, Utopia’s premium painted timber collection of fitted, wall mounted and freestanding bathroom furniture.
Joining the existing Roseberry palette are six brand new, carefully selected colours, including rich, vibrant Royal Mulberry, Highland Green and Midnight Blue, and three subtle, more traditional shades – Natural Limestone, Wild Mushroom and Pistachio Green.
Rich Shore, Head of Product Design at Utopia, comments “The consumer is now much more confident about the use of colour and prepared to embrace strong shades to create dramatic focal points in the bathroom. These six new colourways are right on trend.”
Expanding on this, Helen Clark, Utopia’s Head of Marketing, says “Initially, Roseberry was positioned very much as a premium range targeting that classic look of traditional, hand-painted timber furniture but we soon saw that it had far greater appeal. Extending our colour palette yet again to include on-trend shades massively extends the design scope of this range and we are seeing some very exciting, contemporary bathroom designs featuring Roseberry.”
Now offered in a total of twelve shades, the Roseberry Collection is designed and manufactured in the UK, using responsibly sourced timber and painted to order in-house using state of the art facilities.
Beautiful by design, Chic is Utopia’s brand new modular collection for 2024. Stylish and elegant, it’s the perfect fusion of form and function, featuring delicate sculpted shapes and sensational colour options.
Richard Shore, Head of Product Design, explains “Everyone can be a designer with Chic, creating unique, personal and eye-catching combinations from the array of options available. Chic is every bit as flexible as it is elegant.”
Designed, developed and manufactured here in the UK, each piece of the new collection is a symphony of curves, planes and sweeping ceramics, all available in stunning unicolour décors. There is also the option of adding decorative legs to Chic cabinets for an extra style dimension, creating a more classic look.
Key features of Chic include gently curved contours, an inspired collection of 19 decors including African Rose and Alpine Green, two brand new super matt soft touch colours, advanced functionality and an exclusive ceramic range designed specifically to complement the soft, rounded lines of the furniture.
With countless different variations, Chic can be built to suit individual preferences. There are two washbasin unit variants with either a Chic ceramic slabtop basin to create a single statement piece or a Chic sit-on basin, echoing the rounded corners and curves of the cabinet and teamed with 12mm Compact Laminate. In single and double drawer configurations with Soft Close as standard, the units are available in a full range of sizes from 540mm to 1600mm widths with the option of pull to open cabinets with the dedicated Chic handle or a handleless style featuring the new push to open mechanism.
The extensive colour palette comprises five gloss, seven super matt, four matt and three patterned and textured finishes. This, when combined with worktop décors, handle finishes, choice of taps and optional legs, means there really are limitless opportunities to create a unique combination.
Co-ordinating tall storage and WC units complete the furniture range along with an array of complementary accessories enabling the consumer to ‘spec up’, including handles, decorative legs, drawer dividers and automatic drawer illumination options. These innovative lights are motion activated and are powered by a rechargeable compact lithium battery located out of sight to the rear of the drawer.
Helen Clark, Head of Marketing at Utopia, comments ‘Designed and manufactured in the UK, Chic is a very exciting new proposition from Utopia. It’s beautiful, practical and versatile, providing our retail partners with a whole host of design possibilities but at the same time simple to specify and order. Personalisation is key to the collection with countless opportunities for home-owners to create a unique look. In addition, the Chic Collection strengthens our position as a leading manufacturer of modular bathroom furniture in the UK and sits alongside our eight other well-established modular collections.”
Utopia is delighted to announce the launch of its new ZEST Partner Programme, which goes live this October. This latest initiative follows on from a strategic review of the business and aims to position the company as the leading supplier for adding value to customers, categories and consumers.
ZEST is a fully detailed support programme of customer business benefits with increased insights on how Utopia adds value to partners. Based on numerous factors, Utopia is introducing a new three tiered partner category – Signature, Advocate and Associate. The programme also focuses on the potential for customers to make step changes in their display/sales/brand advocacy alignment to secure the best possible partner categorisation, ultimately leading to the highest level of reward and support possible.
Utopia Sales Director Gary Matthews explains “The new ZEST programme massively simplifies our business proposition by communicating all the benefits of being associated with Utopia. It will undoubtedly energise our business partnerships and our Business Development Managers are currently busy explaining to our partners the many features and opportunities that ZEST presents.”
Utopia has welcomed John L’Erario as Business Development Manager with responsibility for the East Anglian region and surrounding area.
With a strong background in sales, John’s most recent role was with Kinedo where he spent nine years in sales and technical support roles.
Gary Matthews, Utopia Sales Director, comments “John’s strength as a customer-focused, skilled communicator will be invaluable in developing existing and new relationships in this key area. We welcome John to the business and sales team and know he will flourish in this role.”
Commenting on his new role at Utopia, John said “I’m absolutely delighted to be joining this award-winning British company and look forward to being part of the team taking this leading brand to the next level.”
Leading bathroom furniture manufacturer Utopia has launched a new section of its website dedicated to its Contracts division. The move coincides with its recently announced partnership with the National Building Specification and product listing on NBS Source.
Utopia has had a thriving Contracts and Developer division for over 30 years working with some of the leading names within the sector. Headed up now by Chris Hewitt, the dedicated team works closely with builders, developers and retailers on projects from concept to completion. Proud to design and manufacture all of its extensive range of furniture in the UK, Utopia leads the way in supplying innovative and tailored bathroom solutions to the sector.
In addition to detailing the range of services and products on offer, the new website content includes specific case studies which demonstrate Utopia’s creative and imaginative approach to any project, large or small.
Utopia is delighted to have won the Best Modern Bathroom Range category in the Ideal Home Best Bathroom Awards 2024 with its new Qube Collection.
Qube is a stunning range of wall mounted, fitted and freestanding bathroom furniture offering contemporary chic to suit all budgets. It’s a versatile collection of beautifully designed elements that can be combined to create unique, personalised bathroom solutions that are as good looking as they are practical.
Helen Clark, Head of Marketing at Utopia, explains further “With new Qube we are offering a beautiful, on-trend bathroom solution at an extremely affordable price point. In effect, it’s that designer look for less and, crucially, available on a very quick turn round too. Storage, so essential in any bathroom, has never been so stylish. Winning this prestigious award is welcome confirmation that Qube offers a stunning contemporary design solution for each and every bathroom, no matter how big or small.”
