Founder of Roundhouse Craig Matson has been inducted into the newly-established KBB Retail Hall of Fame. We talk to him about his journey, acquisition of Day True, and what success now looks like.

“One of the best people you could sit next to at a dinner table” was just one comment on a social media post congratulating Craig Matson on being inducted into the KBB Retail Hall of Fame.

It goes some way to reveal the charismatic personality of MD of Roundhouse Design who only chose to study woodwork, in a defiant move, because a headmaster told him he wasn’t bright enough to study chemistry, as well as advanced maths and physics.

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Craig Matson explains: “I thought I’ll do woodwork, instead. I enjoyed it anyway.”

With an unusual combination of subjects, it led him to study architecture at university and with a natural disposition for the mixture of art and science – procedure and design – he excelled.

In fact, Craig started his own design and build business while still at university, building three apartments in Fremantle, in his native Australia, as part of his written final year thesis, and sold them at profit.

Craig said: “It was one of many times people told me I couldn’t do things, but I just did them to prove I could.”

Roundhouse launch

It was following a move to London, Craig Matson decided to set up his own architectural practice and kitchen company, with his wife Victoria Marriott which he ran side-by-side.

Located in Camden, near to arts and music venue Roundhouse, it provided the inspiration for his company name, and Craig says it also reflected his business of working “round the house”.

Deciding to concentrate on the kitchen side of the business, with sub-contracted furniture manufacturing, Roundhouse took the plunge to open its own factory with the addition of a second showroom in Fulham.

“It was the best thing we did, especially as we grew.”

He exclaims: “Consumers certainly buy into the fact we are a British manufacturer.”

But Craig admits he never planned the £15m-£20m kitchen business to be the size it is now.

In three decades, Roundhouse has grown to have seven showrooms in London and the Home Counties, selling luxury, bespoke kitchens and joinery, as well as a factory in Malvern, Worcestershire.

Education interest

Alongside making his name in British kitchen retail, Craig Matson could also be synonymous with a drive for professionalism in the industry through formal education paths for kitchen design.

But his ambition wasn’t entirely altruistic.

Craig explains it was difficult to find the right calibre of person for his growing number of kitchen showrooms, and remains one of the biggest challenges for his business, so he set upon the path of helping develop the first Kitchen Design Foundation Degree at New Bucks University.

“I must say there wasn’t quite the appetite that I thought there would be”, he confesses, citing a reluctance of designers/employers to pay for education.

To resolve this, he created and became chair of The Kitchen Education Trust , a charity, encouraging manufacturers to sponsor designers and help pay course fees.

The cost involved made the idea slightly difficult to sell it to the industry.

Undeterred, Craig turned his attention to developing an apprenticeship degree (Level 6) in Kitchen, Living and Commercial Spaces design, which is in the process of being approved by the Institute for Apprenticeships & Technical Education.

The last step is finding an educational establishment to operate it, and conversations are still on-going.

Craig is still hopeful it will become a success, stating training and education is key to solving the skills gap crisis. “I was looking at higher education but there is also a requirement for training along the way, which might fill the gap between this and no education.”

 He adds, it would be helpful if there was industry-wide KBB representation to support education.

“The Kbsa does a fantastic job with small independents, but it’s not representative of the whole industry, certainly when discussing education. I think education should be for everyone.”

Tough Market

“Everyone wants to be positive about their business, but It’s hard work. You really have to fight, and fight hard”, Craig says when asked how he’s finding business at the moment.

But he points to his three-decade long experience of coping with economical peaks and troughs, although adds: “It would be nice to not have so many market ups and downs”

He advises retailers who are concerned about the unpredictable market to concentrate on growing their market share, after reducing overheads.

Craig says the financial crash of 2008/9 was the toughest time in business, as he had just opened its flagship store on Wigmore Street.

But he adds it was luckily over a short period of six months.

“In a way, this has been as bad a period, but four times as long”, he muses, pointing to Brexit, COVID, the post-COVID boom which led to supply shortages from appliances through to veneers.

Taking learnings from this difficult time in business, Craig says it highlighted the importance of communication with its customers, adding: “We’re much stronger and more proactive.”

Bathroom entrance

Its strength can be seen in the growth of the business, as Roundhouse has opened a showroom in Cheltenham and Cambridge, refitted its Richmond showroom, and acquired independent retailer Day True.

 “We bought Day True because it’s a ready-made entry into the bathroom market”, Craig says. With his kitchen clients having homes with multiple bathrooms, he believes bathrooms offers a lucrative sales avenue. The vision is to integrate both businesses, so Roundhouse will offer kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms starting next year.

He says the next step of the company’s development is around the company values and ethos, “We design spaces to enrich people’s lives.”

Craig Matson explains the focus will be on further improving its service.“We have a fantastic product and we have to make sure our service is as good as our product, and you have to work quite hard to deliver that as a package, because that is the expectation.”

He continues: “We collaborate with our clients and I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say we are enriching people’s lives, because the kitchen and the whole ground floor kitchen/living/dining space is where you interact with your friends and family. It has to be practical but also beautiful”.

Having long established a brand tantamount with bespoke designer kitchens and soon luxury bathrooms, what keeps Craig striving to set new standards? “I’m trying to create something that has longevity and I’m aiming for Roundhouse to be the most successful company in its space.”