Delivering visionary retail interiors

Nathan Keightley, owner of Clan Innovations, first came across Button-fix eight years ago, when it was specified on an architect’s drawing. He’s been using them ever since, as the smart connectors help make the on-site installation quick and accurate.

Almost everything produced in his workshops utilises their state-of-the-art CNC machining capabilities, to ensure accuracy, consistency and a superior finish. Rebates and pilot holes for the Button-fixes are easily incorporated into the machined panels.

To achieve the designer’s vision for the in-store displays, they detail the furniture to be installed in two stages: a base MDF chassis that goes in first and can be fitted with electrics and lighting, then the highly finished outer cladding, made from premium materials such as solid surface, oak veneer or mirror glass. Button-fix is often the invisible detail that brings them all together, and allows the furniture to be assembled and approved at Clan Innovations’ workshops, disassembled for shipping then reassembled onsite, certain that it will all fit together perfectly.

“We always detail the shop fittings as if we were installing them ourselves on site”, explains Nathan. Although he adds that, these days, they concentrate on larger projects that are usually installed by other contractors. When we visited their workshops in Fleckney, near Leicester, his team were busy working on a whole shop interior for a well-known luxury cosmetics brand.

Many of the finishes specified for this particular project are Staron® and HIMACS solid surface materials. They all attach to the MDF chassis using Button-fix and can be removed, if necessary, to service the electrics for the illuminated displays or if they are damaged and have to be replaced. The Buttons are attached to the rear face of the solid surface panels using Resinserts®, an innovative threaded anchor devised by Nathan’s longstanding collaborator, Dan Harding. Type 1 Flush Fixes are fully recessed into the MDF chassis and together they create a strong and dependable, invisible connection.

Clan Innovations’ method clearly shows the benefits of careful detailing in CAD, precision manufacturing using CNC, offsite assembly and fast-track reassembly on site, and how products such as Button-fix enable this to happen.