Laminam UK MD Gavin Shaw has been on a mission – to put the quality Italian porcelain brand firmly on the kitchen industry map. Two years in, he talks to Gail Rees about the challenges, momentum, and what’s next for the business.
“The big thing was the lack of brand awareness here in the UK,” explains Gavin Shaw, who joined Laminam as MD in 2023. “Since then, we’ve been working hard to raise the profile of the Laminam brand so more people in the kitchen industry know us and what the company is about.” With a focus on building a strong team of regional sales managers, targeted advertising, and savvy use of LinkedIn, Shaw has seen the company go from strength to strength. “Now, when we go and meet with people, even if it’s for the first time, they have heard about Laminam.”
He credits much of this growth to placing experienced sales managers in key regions. “Those relationships have really helped get the Laminam message out quickly,” he says. With plans for 2 more hires in Scotland and the South West, it's clear this will remain a focus.
“It was really important to get the message across that not all porcelain is equal,” Shaw explains of their hands-on strategy. “So we decided to back that up. We’ve been going into fabricators’ workshops, giving them free test slabs, and doing live demonstrations. It’s one thing for me to say our material’s easy to work with – and another to stand by it and show it in real time.”
On the retail side, Laminam’s focus has been on education. “We’ve got a ‘lunch and learn’ programme where we go into kitchen showrooms, buy the designers lunch, and deliver a presentation on the background of Laminam and the USPs of our product,” he says. “It’s about giving them confidence to specify Laminam – but also to design within the correct technical parameters.”
“Across the whole Laminam range – in terms of thicknesses, colours, and textures – we’ve literally got something for everyone,” says Shaw. The range includes 10 different textures, 6 thicknesses, and more than 50 colours in the 20mm format preferred by the UK market. Bookmatched slabs are also a key part of the offer, with 26 options available to help designers turn joins into standout features.
Shaw is equally excited about what’s ahead. This summer, Laminam will launch DNA, its latest surface texture. “It reproduces the movement and natural look of stone – we will make the veins have highs and lows, and if there’s an area that looks like it should be rough we’re making it rough. It’s the closest looking porcelain to real natural stone that I’ve seen,” he says. The texture will debut in the form of a new colour-way Taj Mahal, a much-anticipated new product that will also be offered in matte and polished textures. “We’ve already been selling it in the UK before launch – I’ve never known anything like it.”
Speaking on another area of growth for Laminam, he says: “People are going to demand sustainable products. Everything Laminam does has sustainability at the heart of it. With porcelain, we’re taking natural minerals from the ground and mixing it with water – usually rainwater that we’ve collected and cleaned – so there’s nothing horrible in it, no nasty additives or plastics.”
For Shaw, much of Laminam’s success comes down to letting people experience the brand first-hand. “There’s one thing as a salesperson telling someone how big we are and how huge our factories are – and there’s another thing actually taking people there,” he says. “It’s just been absolutely amazing to take so many customers out to Italy. When they see the full-size slabs, the production process, and walk past the kilns, it all just makes sense. That’s when they really understand what Laminam is about.” It’s this focus on transparency, trust, and long-term relationships that Shaw believes will continue to set the brand apart as it expands its reach across the UK.
