Founding Member Interview: In Conversation with Martin Corton, Director of Rainleaf

1.) Welcome to The Luxury Property Forum! How would you describe Rainleaf to someone who has never heard of you before?

I would describe Rainleaf as an artisan wood flooring company, a wood floorist, where the pursuit of product perfection is something where we never rest and the desire to exceed our client expectation is all consuming. For me at Rainleaf its never been a job, its way beyond just work, its far more important than that.

2.) How long has Rainleaf been in business?

Rainleaf is now in its 23rd year solely concentrating on wood flooring. I have been working with wood since the age of 13.

3.) Your job takes a lot of skill! Where did your artisan flooring career first begin?

I never wanted to do anything else but work with wood. Every chance I got to help my father I would make things with him. My wood working class at secondary school involved making things for the woodworker teacher to fit at weekends. He was a family friend. The first time wood flooring truly hit home was when I was searching for a floor for home. I came across a single plank of engineered ash, the colours were stunning. In that one plank there was brown, gold white and red and a grain pattern that was beyond enchanting. That was the moment that I was "into my floors”. Leading up to that point my life as a joiner and a carpenter was where I honed my hand skills.

4.) Can you tell us a little about the world class manufacturers you work with?

Our studio is dedicated to our partner manufacturer from Germany, Biehrer. Biehrer is the family name of Anton and Verena who produce the most amazing wide and long plank engineered floors. Anton is widely acknowledge within Europe as the worlds leading long plank producers. This is down to several factors, the important being that he dries his to players of oak different to any other manufacturer and this results in the most stable material at any length and width.

Our Biehrer clients are multidisciplinary practices and have varying wood flooring requirements. For our laser inlay and marquerty work we partner an Italian manufacturer. Where clients require a bespoke and personally tailored floor but with value engineered aspect we partner a Dutch producer that we’ve been with since the day we started .

5.) Are there any projects you've worked on that are particularly memorable?

We have been so lucky over the last 20 plus years to have worked on some wonderful projects for world class design teams and very special clients. Several memorable projects have been The Arts Club in Dover Street (above) and the having to replace a number of Herringbone staves after a Brit Awards after party got a little out of hand. The Norman Hotel in Tel Aviv with oak and stunning metal inlay that has lead to more projects in that fabulous city. Our first project for SizeGroup in Berkeley Sq with SHH, a Herringbone project involving border work in antique bronze and corian.

Villa A at the Glebe in Chelsea for MHZ involving planks to nearly 9 mts long and widths to 452 mm. Every room in the villa was wall to wall lengths. The Mittal family home in Cranleigh Surrey was a wonderful project to complete involving 4 colours developed just for that project. Every project is special, each has the same attention to detail, its personal and it matters.

6.) What are the most popular flooring trends you're seeing?

Grey has been the colour for the last 3 years and design teams never grow tired of realising the true potential thats available to them and their clients with long and wide plank floors. Geometric parquet always has if enthusiasts and more border work involving mixed materials. With parquet floors the rule of thumb is always lengths in proportion to widths, so 1-3/1-4/1-5, but turning thus in its head and making what appears abstract sizing is starting to gather some real traction.

7.) For those who would like to work with Rainleaf for their flooring, can you tell us about the process, from the initial consultation to the end result?

For us its about attitude. Every project matters and is personal so we want design teams who feel the same about their projects. Wood flooring is so underestimated by most design teams in that they often only consider the surface finish or the budget. We try to engage with the team to enlighten them about the make up of the plank and all the technical attributes of all the floors we offer.

We start with a blank canvas as to finish and surface structure and all our floors are truly bespoke and made for each specific project. We samples everything in various sizes and once the order is with the factory we offer all clients the opportunity to join us in German and see their floor being produced. Here they get to sign off on all aspects of their floor. We feel a trip to meet the Biehrer team is absolutely essential. We install all our floors so we never leave the product in the hands of a “flooring contractor” and hope for the best. Its a Rainleaf floor and it has to be installed the Rainleaf way.

We partner just one adhesive and sub floor prep manufacturer and they are the very best in the market. There’s strength in partnerships that benefit the end client. And when the design team and main contractor are long gone, the end client can call on us to deal with any maintenance or re oiling at any point.

8.) You have a studio in Belgravia! What's this like and who can visit?

The studio is a simple concept in that we display about 45 planks to 3000mm in length and to 452 mm wide. We have 100 mm squares of around 40 colours available to take away in our project boxes. We have a around 30 additional smaller samples that are from numerous projects and colours we have developed for clients. We share the space with Michael Reeves and if i am with clients on site or installing then Michael is always on hand to help.

The coffee machine is always there and clients are welcome to come and chat about about all things wood flooring at any point. We often open at strange times of the day and night to suit client flight plans. Many clients fly in and have busy schedules so we open to suit them. And of course we hold 4/5 gin networking events a year at the studio so we hope to see many of you at the next one in June, covid 19 permitting. I think we re featuring gins from the Greek Islands at the next event.

9.) What sets Rainleaf aside from other luxury flooring companies?

Its about attitude. I have a single minded desire to exceed client expectation. Its no longer enough to be passionate about what you do, that passion has to translate into delivering and exceeding your clients expectation. We are different in that the drivers of our business are our product portfolio and the service we offer. This stopped being a job many years ago, its far more important than that.

10.) When you're not busy working, where can you be found?

Work has always been all consuming. I guess my personality is one where its all or nothing. My golf handicap is suffering and my beloved Ipswich Town Football Club hasn’t seen me at Portman Road for some time. I’m so lucky to have my wife Dawn in the business, so together we try to have as much time as projects allow to enjoy our love of all things Greek and holiday at every opportunity. I’m a great fan of Mark Powell, bespoke tailor in Soho and I never need much of an excuse to find myself passing his amazing studio and planning my next purchase.

Website: www.rainleaf.com | Tel: +44 (0) 1206 547 177 | Email: info@rainleaf.com

Interviews, Interior Design, FlooringPriya RawalMay 15, 2020Rainleaf, Flooring, Pimlico Road, Belgravia, Luxury Interiors, Martin Corton