Funky Fixtures

Specializing in different cabinet pulls and knobs, the unique and bright little shop Chloe Alberry situated on Portobello Road is overflowing with tons of creative fixtures of Alberry's own design to spruce up bland furniture.

Alberry opened the store four years ago after she was made “mad by the sheer dullness of the knobs offered to her by the builders in her new flat,” said her husband, David Alberry.

“You're eye will go to the details,” Alberry said, expressing what drove her to focus on something as simple as knobs for cabinets and drawers. It is the agony of something ugly on a fine piece of furniture that Alberry attempts to avoid and help her customers avoid.

“The finest cabinet makers work can be destroyed by the smallest detail,” said Alberry's husband, stressing the need to pay attention to the little things when decorating.

The brightly lit store that also includes colourful, hanging, Belgium lamps offers fixtures made of volcanic glass, obsidian compressed at 3000 degrees or ones with silver nitrate in crystal to make them look like a diamond. Others are made from petrified wood, or beach pebbles, which Alberry said took a while to find out how to drill into them. There are also large stone pulls, blue, globe pulls made of porcelain, and hand turned teak fittings.

After earning a scholarship to study at Wimbledon School of Art, the 27 year old travelled around the world searching for exotic mediums that would bring life to her flat. One of the places she visited, the Czech Republic, with its long history of crystal design, was a perfect place for her to start.

Most of the pieces are made in England or at least finished in England, but Alberry also resurrects antique pieces from old buildings and from her travels. Her designs reflect inspiration from things like Swedish licorice allsorts or even cricket. Thinking of her many different customers, she created a series of knobs that looked like a cricket ball for children.