DANIEL HEATH
The surface designer needed a quiet space at home in order to focus on his drawings. He chose a self-assembly cabin and customised it with slate tiles
I have a studio in Hackney Wick, east London, where I work on projects – from screenprinting wallpapers to laser-engraving my illustrations onto panels of reclaimed materials – but it’s a very busy, industrial space. Drawing underpins everything I do, yet I hadn’t made any provision to allow myself to draw and to think.
There was a ramshackle old tool shed at the end of the garden and I thought the space could be far better used. I drew up plans plus a list of materials for the new structure, but started to wonder if it would be a lot easier to start with a kit and then personalise it.
We went for a log cabin style from Dunster House with similar dimensions to what I’d designed and with a simple, stacked wood construction. The first step was to level and prepare the ground, extending the concrete pad from the previous shed, and then my brother helped with the build. There were hundreds of pieces and it took around two weeks but, considering it’s the biggest indoor space we now have (5.5 x 3m), it was relatively easy and fun to do.
At first the studio looked very stark, so integrating it into the garden was important. My wife, Laura, and I painted the exterior in a dark grey. To create a calm feel inside, we chose a soft putty colour for the walls, with Farrow & Ball’s ‘Dutch Orange’ on the window frames for a contemporary touch.
The idea for the slates engraved with plants came from the garden, which Laura was replanting at the same time with achillea, euphorbia, sanguisorba and fennel. By having those engravings on the outside of the building, it feels like the garden is truly a year-round space. The drawings are there as the plants come up; they get lost in the foliage as they grow and then, as they die back, they reappear. It’s a nice way to create some harmony between the building and the setting. danielheath.co.uk
‘BY HAVING THE ENGRAVINGS ON THE OUTSIDE OF THE BUILDING,
IT FEELS LIKE THE GARDEN IS TRULY A YEAR-ROUND SPACE’