Shropshire designer enjoys boom in work after Fifty Shades of Grey book sales
A Shropshire architectural designer is enjoying a ‘design boom’ as part of the Fifty Shades of Grey ‘baby boom’.
Craig Marston, who runs Ke-Design in Oswestry, said he had been inundated with enquiries over the last two months and after meeting the clients had found they were extending their properties for the arrival of new babies.
Mr Marston, based on Salop Road, said he knew babies of 2013 were being called the “Fifty Shades of Grey” babies following the release of the erotic romance which became the fastest selling paperback of all time but did not believe it would impact on his industry to the extent it has.
He said the extent of business in January was unprecedented, especially with house extensions.
Sociologists said 2013 would be a baby boom, with a large proportion of babies due this month, directly correlating to the Fifty Shades of Grey sales spike in May 2012.
The architectural designer, who has worked in Hong Kong and London before moving back to his home town of Oswestry to set up his business said: “January is normally a quiet month for industry, but the number of house extensions I am currently working on or have worked on since the New Year has been unprecedented.
“My workload would usually include a wide range of projects from residential new builds and commercial work but the enquiries at the moment are predominantly house extensions – one after another.
“Upon meeting the clients it has become a running pattern that they are expecting a baby and need to extend the property because they want to stay in the same area but cannot find a bigger property or have failed to sell their house before the new baby arrives.
“It is great they are taking the opportunity to increase the value of their property but at a fraction of the cost to move up the property ladder.”
Author E L James has said she has also received emails from fans that had fallen pregnant while reading her book.
“I am obviously not complaining because I have had a record-breaking month since setting up the business nearly two years ago but never did I believe a novel would create such a design boom alongside the baby boom.
“It’s very rewarding to create plans for a property to make it the perfect family home the client desires at such an exciting time for them,” Mr Marston added.
