So, last week saw me do a couple of exciting new things, one was to help with the styling of a project in Fulham and the other was to attend a wallpaper screen-printing demonstration from the very talented Daniel Heath at his studio in Walthamstow. I was invited by new social platform In The Window and have liked Heath’s illustrative designs for a while. The first time I saw them in real life was at Decorex this year and they really are joyful, his Art Deco, taxidermy and circus motifs work exquisitely on both paper and furniture.

It was impressive to see such a talented artisan at work and really cool to look round a studio where so many crafts and talents are produced. I was surprised by how small scale the production is, having done a bit of screen printing for GCSE Art I was expecting this to be on a far more industrial scale with tables as big as rooms to lay rolls of paper out on. I was really impressed by the small scale production process as it illustrated the direct relationship between artist and product that is so often lost in modern design. Daniel is, as you may expect, very passionate about his work and it was such a pleasure to hear about his design process, the bespoke projects he’s most enjoyed working on and to have a (slightly shoddy) go at screen printing his Eastern Peacock design in gold and teal myself.

I am currently compiling my favourite papers for a post soon and Heaths designs are definitely among them. I love his architectural motifs, they translate so well onto tables or slate as shown in the picture above. As perks of the night I sampled some amazing food including these beautiful cupcakes (below) from Dinah’s Desserts which really were almost too good looking to eat, how on earth she printed his wallpaper onto icing is a talent I don’t understand. I also took away a goody bag which included one of my favourite of his designs – the delightful Victoriana circus print High Wire, which Heath created on his BA 10 years ago. This gold print of the design below is just gorgeous, I’m trying to plan where it may go in our new house, my first thought was Teds bedroom but I’m swaying towards the downstairs toilet as I think a bit of fun and opulence is just what that space needs!

To see more of Heaths work check out his website here. Thanks to both Heath and the team behind In The Window for a great night and allowing me to see behind such a great story.