I Haven’t Been Quiet. I’ve Been Choosing. — Family, Boundaries, and the Future of Aura’s Design-Led Surface Consultancy
I haven’t been quiet. I’ve been choosing.
Choosing family over the inbox. Choosing boundaries over yes-for-the-sake-of-it. Choosing the projects Aura is actually built for over the ones that just want our attention. That’s the honest version of the last few weeks, and it’s what I want to share with you this week.
I’ve had a fair few messages asking where I’ve gone. Well, when I say a fair few, I mean a fair few for me. Enough to tell me that people are actually reading these, which is both terrifying and rather lovely in equal measure.
I’ve been a busy boy. Busy working on myself. Busy working on the business. And busy spending proper time with the people who matter most. But being quiet for a few weeks has also given me the space to take a proper look at Aura Surfaces — what it actually is, who it’s for, and what a design-led surface consultancy should really stand for in 2026. And that’s what I want to talk about today.
Below is a short video expanding on these points.
Why I Chose to Step Back for a Few Weeks
We spent Easter in Spain as a family, and I’m not going to apologise for that one. Since losing my Dad, something has shifted in the way I look at all of this. The business matters — of course it does. But it doesn’t matter anywhere near as much as being there for the people you love while you still can. That’s not me being sentimental. That’s me being awake.
There’s a reason I’m sharing that here and not keeping it private. In a design-led surface consultancy, the relationships are the product. Clients who trust you with a six-, seven- or eight-figure specification don’t buy tiles — they buy judgement, taste, and care. And judgement gets dull when you’re running on empty. Stepping away to look after my family hasn’t slowed the business down. It’s sharpened it.
Under Wraps in Budapest — What's Coming to Aura Next
While I was out in Spain I also spent time with clients there, then over in Italy to see projects in progress, and then a properly mind-blowing trip to Budapest to look at some state-of-the-art technology that is going to change the way we design surfaces. I can’t say any more about it yet — it’s very much under wraps — but trust me, it’s coming, and you’ll want to see it.
What I can say is this: the surface specification industry is changing fast. Material technology, digital design tools, and the way architects and interior designers are specifying natural stone, porcelain, terrazzo and metal finishes have all shifted in the last 18 months. If you’re running a design-led surface consultancy and you aren’t out there looking at what’s next, you’ll end up selling your clients what you sold them two years ago. That’s not good enough.
Trying to fit everything in is tough. I like to be as heavily involved in as many of our projects as I possibly can, because for me the relationships are the whole point. And that’s where this gets interesting.
The Compliment That Pays Twice
I realised something over these last few weeks that I want to be honest with you about.
I get more of a kick out of the compliments, and the clients who invite me back to see the finished project we built together, than I do out of the money coming into the bank.
Crazy, isn’t it? I know. And look — I can’t lie, the money helps. Nobody’s pretending otherwise. But when someone tells me they appreciate the knowledge I bring, or the passion I have for what we do, that’s the bit that makes all of this worth it. That’s the bit that pays me twice.
If you strip it right back, that’s the difference between a surface supplier and a design-led surface consultancy. A supplier gets paid once, on the PO. A consultancy gets paid twice: once on the specification, and again months later when the client walks through the finished project and says, “we made the right calls here.” The first payment keeps the lights on. The second one is why you do the work.
For years and years I’ve been a yes man. I’ve tried to please everyone, take on everything, squeeze every project in, never turn anyone away. And all it’s done is turn me into a busy fool. So I’ve changed how I decide which projects to take.
Why I've Turned Down Two Projects This Month
Over the past month I’ve actually turned down two relatively nice projects. Not because I’m arrogant. Not because I think I’m better than them. Simply because Aura wasn’t the right fit for the client, I couldn’t get excited about the vision, and if I’m not excited about a project — it will not get the attention from me that it deserves. The client will feel that long before the samples hit the door.
I didn’t leave those clients stranded. I passed them both on to other companies I know personally who can help them better than I could on those particular briefs. One was a transactional job — the client already knew exactly what they wanted, wanted to buy it and move on, and didn’t need a consultancy wrapped around it. The other was more of a pure design-led fit-out where another studio I rate was better positioned to lead. Different needs, different homes.
I know that might sound a bit mad, but here’s the honest version: if I’m already stretched, why on earth would I take on more and spread myself thin across the projects I’m already in the middle of? On large-scale jobs with lots of moving parts, one small mistake can have a huge knock-on effect. That’s stress I’m going to avoid at all costs — for me, for the team, and most importantly for the clients we’re already serving.
For anyone specifying a surface project this year, here’s a useful filter you can apply to your own consultancy: if the person you’re about to work with is visibly excited by your brief, you’re in the right place. If they’re quietly running numbers while you talk, you’re not. Enthusiasm isn’t a luxury. On a project with hundreds of specification decisions, it’s the thing that keeps the details right.
So yes — I’ll happily turn projects away now. But only ever for reasons that benefit the client on the other end.
What a Design-Led Surface Consultancy Actually Does
Let me use this as an excuse to say plainly what a design-led surface consultancy is, because there’s still a lot of confusion in the market — and frankly, it’s on us in the industry to be clearer.
A design-led surface consultancy is not a showroom with a sales desk, and it’s not a tile shop. It’s a consultancy that sits between the architect, the interior designer, the main contractor and the client, and takes ownership of every surface decision on a project — from the natural stone selection to the porcelain tolerances, from the brassware finish to the grout colour to the installation sequence.
Practically, that looks like three things:
- Specification depth. We know how products look, how they perform, where they work, and, just as importantly, where they don’t. That’s the thing that saves a project from an expensive mistake on site.
- Supply chain honesty. We work directly with quarries, factories and fabricators — Italian terrazzo, Spanish porcelain, handmade concrete from Portugal, full marble from the quarry — so the provenance is real, not a sticker stuck on a sample. For a design-led project, that matters more than most clients realise until they see the difference.
- One accountable point of contact. When something needs chasing, changing, or problem-solving mid-project, there’s one person who knows the entire specification and can make a decision on it. That’s me.
If that’s what you need, we’re a good fit. If you need a price list and a next-day delivery quote, you’ll get a better deal elsewhere — and I’ll tell you that to your face rather than pretend.
New Products Landing This Summer
While all of that has been going on, a lot has been happening behind the scenes at Aura. I’ve been working hard on the client experience, on the products we offer, on redesigning the space, and on adding additional showroom space ready for the re-launch this summer.
A few things worth flagging for you:
- Antique Mirrors are coming in — the sort of pieces that stop you in the hallway. We’re seeing more residential specifiers ask for aged and smoked mirror finishes as a feature wall alternative, and the pieces we’ve commissioned are the right answer to that brief.
- Italian Brassware is landing, because the details are what people remember. This is where a design-led surface consultancy earns its fee — a beautifully specified stone floor lives or dies by the brass trim that meets it.
- New commercial Terrazzo designs aimed at hospitality, retail and workspace settings at a sensible price point — because good design shouldn’t only live in penthouses. There’s a real gap in the UK commercial market for terrazzo that performs, looks the part, and doesn’t blow the budget, and this range is built to fill it.
- A huge new run of Luce di Carrara samples. Over 4,000kg of new tiles are on their way, so our clients have the best and the latest to choose from — not last season’s leftovers. If you’ve been waiting to see current Luce di Carrara in person, book a showroom visit and I’ll put the crates in front of you.
The Vision, Plainly Stated
It’s all coming together. The vision is now clear.
Design-led surface consultancy with a purpose. A purpose where our passion for the project has to match yours.
If you’re not excited about your own project — then honestly, we won’t be either, and it’s fairer to send you back to the high street than to pretend we are.
I love the products I sell. I love what we can achieve together. And if the satisfaction isn’t there at the end of it, then it’s simply not a project we should be doing.
That’s where my head is at this week.
Conclusion
The last few weeks have taught me that the business doesn’t break when I step away to look after my family. It actually gets clearer. A design-led surface consultancy is built on judgement, relationships and specification depth — and those things get sharper when I’m well, not busier.
The next twelve months at Aura are going to be about fewer projects, better projects, and the right projects. New products will land. The showroom will re-launch. The technology we saw in Budapest will start to shape how we work. And I’ll keep being honest with you about all of it, right here in Surface Notes.
More soon — and thank you for sticking around while I’ve been away. It means more than you know.
Ashley
If you’re working on a project and want to get it right from the outset — whether that’s selecting the right materials, understanding what’s possible, or simply having a proper conversation about your options — this is where we can add real value.
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