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The best ideas stand the test of time. Kay met b eg a n mak i ng a lu mi n iu m t rays and t rolleys in London in 1947. having produced parts for radios and radar equipment during t he second World War, t he company ’s founder, sydney schreiber, needed to put his machinery to a new use.
‘at that time, it had only been a few decades since industry first figured out how to extrude aluminium,’ explains the architect Mark brearley, who now runs Kaymet along with sydney’s son, Ken schreiber. ‘The war [had] increased production capabilities and the development of more sophisticated alloys… whereas steel was very scarce.
‘aluminium,’ brearley goes on, ‘had this sense of being an abundant, lightweight wonder material.’
schreiber remembers visit ing t he Festival of britain in 1951, aged six, to see his fat her ’s products on display. he joined the company af ter leaving school in the 1960s, when Kaymet had more th a n 20 0 e mploye e s . Wel lappointed homes and businesses across t he l a nd – i nclud i ng buck i ngha m Palace – used Kaymet trolleys, but as plastic flooded the market during the 1970s and t rolleys fell out of fashion, business declined.
in 2013, schreiber relaunched t he brand with a new, colourf ul product range overseen by brearley, who previously ran the design for London team at City hall. sales have doubled in the past three years, and Kaymet exports to 40 countries.
each one of the company’s trays and trolleys is shaped, put together and finished by a team of seven in Peckham. because of the resilience of anodised a luminium, t he product s a re exceptionally durable.
‘That’s one of our major problems, ac t ua l ly,’ s ay s s ch r eib er. ‘ i’l l meet someone who says, “i’ve had your trolley for 40 yea rs a nd t here’s not hing wrong wit h it. i don’t need a not her one.”’ if only everything was still built to last.