Studio Retreat and the alternative workplace revolution

Derbyshire-based Duncan Hewitt from 2D Design & 3D Visualisation specialists albino igil is not going down the garden office route but is busy converting his garage loft into a shedlike atmosphere. I came across him as albino igil was approached by about-to-launch Studio Retreat to produce several illustrations of their new range of garden offices (pictured above) for their marketing and advertising literature. Here are his thoughts on the alternative workplace revolution.

"I'm a great believer in this way of working for the future - asides from the two of us full-time at albino igil (myself and my wife, the project manager) we also use several specialist freelancers running similar set-ups. In my opinion, with today's technology there is absolutely no reason why smaller companies with decent work-methods in place can not give similar, if not better, results than typical premise-based businesses. Then we pass our time and energy savings on to our customers whilst living somewhere we'd rather live and avoiding the commute. I'm intrigued as to how far we can take power generation through solar and wind turbines to make our new studio more self-contained - I've some research to do on all this yet!

"Whilst we're based in South Derbyshire our graphic designer is based in Cheshire (soon relocating to Scotland) and our 3D modelling specialist is based in Ireland - after three years and numerous early hour conversations I have still to meet him in person! Our work goes out all over the UK with many clients never meeting up for more than the initial introductory meeting, though some even skip that if their brief is tightly worded. Our next step is to utilise a video-conferencing type system to help aid the conceptual stages of design with real-time sketching across the internet - we're currently researching the possibilities for cost versus effectiveness."

Duncan also points to operations local to him in Derby who share a similar philosophy, Three Men One Shed (featured elsewhere on this site) and Moggs, who describe themselves a a 'virtual agency'. As Duncan says: "Whilst Moggs are not in a shed they do use people who are shed-like in their approach. They're essentially the hub for us shed-workers - though I really do believe that the hub itself could be a glorified shed-like environment."

Choosing a shed - Studio Retreat

We previewed Studio Retreat some months ago when a reader asked about Scottish garden office suppliers. And now things are up and running. There are currently four standard designs - ranging from 3.2 x 2.6m up to 3.2 x 5.7m - in the ever-popular wood (our old friend Western Red Cedar) and glass combination with French doors, decking option, timber base with adjustable feet.

Studio Retreat: now open for business (especially in Ireland)

We previewed the launch of Studio Retreat last autumn but due to personal circumstances, Keith Halligan was unable to get it off the ground as planned. I'm happy to say that it's now up and running, supplying garden office kits for self build (though they also provide installation if required - indeed they are offering free installation and delivery on any orders placed before April 30 2009). Keith says he is concentrating on the Irish market - an area where there are not many suppliers - as that is where their workshop is based but he will also be covering the UK.

Malvern Garden Buildings' Houseplant Studios at 2024 Chelsea Flower Show

Another garden office supplier to look out for at this year's RHS Chelsea Flower Show in late May is Malvern Garden Buildings who are bringing seven indoor gardens to the Houseplant Studios area in the Plateau area (pictured above is part of the company's stand at last year's event). Among the indoor plant stylists and botanical designers showing off their skills in MVG's various studios including their Victorian Greenhouse, Studio Pavilion, Studio Retreat, Astwood, and Studio Flat, will be 

* The Glasshouse: a social enterprise offering horticultural training to women based in UK prisons

*  Plants by There: a multisensory retro 1970s bedroom

* The Plant Parlour x GrowTropicals: exploring the potential of indoor spaces with biophilic design and naturalistic planting. 

* The Plant Warehouse: looking at turning homes of any size into indoor jungles with a focus on upcycling e.g. a living coffee table

* The Little Botanical: an immersive sanctuary showcasing sustainability through British grown and 100% peat free houseplants

* In the Garden: a maximalist layered indoor landscape in an eclectic city apartment, championing the importance of plant placement 

* Botanic York: an immersive, educational experience within a suburban home

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Lisa Neimeth: shedworker

Tableware creator and sculptor Lisa Neimeth works out of her San Francisco garden office - a converted chicken coop - or what she calls her "house of worship" where she aims to make "durable, unique, hand made functional pieces that rival the "Made in China" culture that is so pervasive". She writes atmospherically about her shedworking ethic at her blog and here's a snippet:

If you are an artist, a maker of sorts-whatever it may be, but something that you spend a lot of time doing each day-you have your place..your space where you work away-often time for hours, and hours again, sometimes sneaking back in late at night to adjust an earlier idea. I have my studio which is my true retreat-my place for quiet meditation an escape, really from the real world-or the world that lurks beyond my studio walls. I am lucky lucky to have a beautiful space to retreat to, and I appreciate it every single day.

Above is the site for her future summer ceramic studio in Abiquiu, New Mexico.
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Choosing a shed - using an architect

Although some garden office suppliers do provide a made-to-measure service, if you've got the money then you could also think about using an architect, especially if you're after something a little special. You can get a list of local architects from Architect Search or Royal Institute of British Architects. Two examples of what can be done are pictured. The more traditional shed, a cabin for a north London writer who wanted a place to work surrounded by nature, was designed by Sarah Wigglesworth. Designed to maximise light, it has various spots for sitting, thinking, writing and reading and also - which is going on my wishlist - a daybed built high into the back wall. It also has a small kitchen and a grass roof.

Or there's the more futuristic example, the Garden Studio at Odstock Manor in Wiltshire by Klaentschi & Klaentschi. This is how they describe it. "A retreat to work and contemplate the garden geometry. Right next to the Studio stands an ancient STONE which is a marker on the LINE: Stonehenge, Old Sarum, The Cathedral, Odstock and on to Clearbury Ring. The STUDIO like the STONE is a monolith speaking the language of form just like the globes of the topiary YEWS each all one material. The Studio is a rusting steel monolith with the side facing the causeway - the LINE is being constantly polished by the passing traffic, real or imagined. The drama of opening the super large door is equalled by the surprise of the birch plywood interior. There is sunlight streaming down from the gods. A sensual black walnut undulating desk resides flush with the long low window and just when you are frustrated at not being able to see out you comply with the perfectly designed seat and there the splendid garden panoramic view is presented to you. The workmanship and in particular the carefully designed objects within the room - stainless steel box providing a shower toilet, the tea sink and storage units are exquisitely made."

Retreat space + craft and design studios by Simon Woodhall

Here are some lovely shedworking spaces with a heavy emphasis on green and recycled materials designed and built by Ashburton-based Simon Woodhall and his team. Above and below is a secluded meditation and retreat looking across the Dart valley. It's built with cob, stone and oak taken from the landscape it's in, with reclaimed timber from Devonport docks. Here's what Simon says about it:

The plan was conceived as a series of spiralling terrace levels, protected from the north by a massive, curved earth wall, which stores heat from the glazed south-west elevation. Two roofs meet over the room, with the glazed connection giving views to Dartmoor from an upper level.

Above is a craft studio in Dartmoor with a wonderful roof structure. The larch used for cladding was felled on site and floor beams were reclaimed from a local tile-works.Finally, a writer's room and design studio in Ashburton with a cantilevered roof held in place by ties to the ground. Among many marvellous features, when seen from the house above, the green sedum roof looks like a lawn. Materials for the project were taken from pre-existing garden sheds, and windows came from council refurbishment works.

Lots more details and photos about these and other projects here. Many thanks to Annie Leymarie for the alert

A Woman's Huts and Hideaways

Subtitled 'More than 40 She Sheds and other Retreats', Gill Heriz's new book will be a must for female shedworkers. Suffolk-based writer and artist Gill works in a studio built from old flint. Here's the publishers' description:

An inspirational collection of stunning small spaces. Each place has its own story, a reason for being, whether it’s somewhere to escape, to create, to work, or just a place to “be”. By the Waterside, Ivy has built a mud hut near the River Willamett in Portland, Oregon—a place to “inspire and educate and share with her community.” In the Countryside Monica’s Cabin on the Hill is a writing retreat and provides a place for women who need time away from busy lives. A purpose-built shed in an Urban garden serves as studio for illustrator and artist, Martha. Hidden away, in an enchanting wilderness in Suffolk, UK, is Janet and Sue’s Secret Garden. Here, there are three sheds: an old summerhouse full of light; a hide nestled in the bushes for watching the local wildlife; and a renovated wagon used as a base for recording their wildlife observations. From yurts to Airstreams, beach huts to bothies, the huts and hideaways have one thing in common—they are all inspirational spaces created by women, for women.

There's a really good article about women and sheds by Gill at Living North. Here's a snippet:

Traditionally, women have taken time for moments of creativity within their demanding everyday lives wherever they could. They have always used small domestic spaces, and that sometimes included sheds, for their own practical and creative needs. These humble or not so humble sheds have, undoubtedly, been the places for inspiration, for the creation of novels, paintings, and the making of gardens. Going to the shed is both a physical removal of ourselves to 'another place', and a retreat to a space where our emotional needs are met and we can be ourselves. Our sheds are often the one place we can call our own and where we can do what we like!

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Bush Studio

We negligently don't feature Australian garden office and studio designs much on Shedworking so here to partially make up for that is Bush Studio by Dane Taylor Design based in New South Wales. The build is surrounded by blue gum trees and is used for "gathering, studying, and retreat" by its clients. Features include a solar-passive roof, glazed clerestory, and plenty of Austrlian hardwood cladding.

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The Glasshouse Garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2025

Continuing our look at the finest shedlike structures coming up over the next few months at various garden shows, here's an early glimpse of Hollaway Studio's collaboration with longstanding friend of Shedworking the award-winning garden designer Jo Thompson for her garden at this year's Chelsea Flower Show (May 20- 24).

The garden is for the horticultural social enterprise The Glasshouse which supports training and employment opportunities for women in UK prisons and those who are recently released.
 
Hollaway Studio’s pavilion right at the centre of the garden is a contemporary interpretation of a Victorian glasshouse that offers a practical space for shelter and refuge, but also a peaceful retreat where women can connect with nature and one another - a space for women to come together as a community through gardening, and discover how horticulture builds confidence and skills.

Alex Richards, Managing Partner of Hollaway Studio said: “This has been a rare and rewarding opportunity to dissolve the boundaries between built form and nature. Designing a building to be part of a garden, rather than beside one, has allowed us to rethink the relationship between structure and setting in a truly collaborative way."
 
Designed in the round, the curved lightweight pavilion has no front or back, and features various pivoting screens to blur the lines between inside and out. Features include a completely retractable recycled acrylic façade, green sedum roof, integrated rainwater outlets. Interestingly, the garden was built using a green hydrogen-powered zero-emission JCB digger to build the garden, and the whole thing was built without concrete, the reclaimed stone floor resting on paving slabs, making it ‘no-dig’ and making minimal environmental impact.

Following the show, the garden and pavilion will be re-built in a women’s prison in the South of England.

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For sale - Theberton plus garden studio

This attractive garden studio belongs to a four-bed detached on at £575,000 in Theberton, Nr Saxmundham IP16. According to the particulars it measures 20’5” x 12’7” maximum then narrows to 8’8” (6.22m x 3.81m to 2.64m). "Looking out on to the sun terrace via a pair of double glazed sliding patio doors. This is an ideal summer house/artists or writers retreat with laminate flooring, ceiling fan, two electric dimplex heaters, double glazed window and door opening to the gymnasium. The studio could, subject to the usual consents be converted to a small self contained annexe if required." There's also a gym and hot tub. For more details from Right Move click here.

Friday Finery: The Roots of Wellbeing studio

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show’s Houseplant Studios section is once again sponsored by Malvern Garden Buildings this year. One of the most interesting looks to be The Roots of Wellbeing studio by Botanic York which describes it as "a cosy and comfortable space to live and work in retreat from the chaos of modern life. Trailing plants fill the walls and dangle from the ceiling to create a feeling of being immersed in plants. Visitors brush past curtains of greenery to enter the inside jungle where plants are used to delineate an office or workspace."

The designers say the studio is very much focused on managing a healthy work-life balance, and how greenery can enhance remote working inside a "jungle-inspired office". Features will include hanging troughs with trailing plants, a reclaimed table for working surrounded by herbs, with a living wall on the outside of the build.

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Eleanor Dark’s garden studio

Pictured above is the garden studio of the Australian novelist Eleanor Dark, one of the country's leading 20th century novelists (The Timeless Land, Storm of Time, No Barrier). It's in the gardens of their home Varuna, in Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, and was her home - with husband Eric - from 1923 until her death in 1985. It was turned into what has become a very successful retreat for writers in 1989 by their son Mick on the death of Eric.

Of particular interest is Eleanor's garden office which is allocated as a writing space to whoever is booked into the smallest downstairs bedroom. The studio has a lovely view across the garden and writers who work there are encouraged to leave a few pages of their work-in-progress in the very same manuscript drawers that Eleanor used to store her own manuscripts in. Features include Eleanor's original desk which retains its cigarette burns and the custom built cabinet with a separate drawer for working on individual chapters.

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Underground studio in the woods

Regular readers of Shedworking will know that the staff has a penchant for underground builds. Here is a marvellous one in Veneto, Italy, from architects Traverso Vighy, which they call the Bosco Retreat. The 9-square-metre build in the Berici Hills near Vicenza is used as a small studio for reading and stargazing. According to Giovanni Traverso from Studio Traverso-Vighy:

"The main idea was to leave the surrounding woodland completely untouched and to construct a nice room with sufficient illumination provided by natural light in the wintertime and enough shade during the summer. The dwelling is rather small, but the light and the tall windows convey the feeling of a larger space where you can really feel immersed in nature. The big window frames look as though they're dug into the ground - the glass reaches the surface of the soil - and the view of the leaves conveys the impression the tree is actually inside the room."

Lots more images of it at their site here.

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Keith Halligan: singer, songwriter, shed supplier

Keith Halligan from Studio Retreat is not only a supplier of garden offices, he's a rather talented singer-songwriter too. You can listen to his work at his myspace site here. Shedworking particularly likes Trailing the shadows. His debut album 'Hang on in' is coming soon.
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Scottish shedworking

Earlier this month several readers wrote in to ask about Scotland-based garden office suppliers. Keith Halligan of just-about-to-be-launched Studio Retreat is putting the finishing touches to his web site but in the meantime, those interested in finding out more can email him directly for information at enquiries@studioretreat.co.uk

Upmarket garden offices

We don't normally include prices of garden offices on posts on Shedworking, unless they're absurdly cheap or ludicrously expensive (we make an exception for beach huts when they hit barmy figures like £300,000). The Sunday Times this weekend not only put together a remarkable hit job on Boris Johnson, but also included a feature on 'Garden studio ideas that will add space to your home and save you from upsizing'. Delightful though most of them are - and almost all of them have been featured on Shedworking previously - they're mostly in the £50,000-£100,000 bracket (and more like the top end of that). Nevertheless, if those sorts of numbers don't put you off, then the article is well worth a look (it's behind a paywall, but you can probably get it as your single weekly freebie).

Here's a snippet:

The open-plan home is taking a toll on family relationships during lockdown: when there are no walls, there’s no escape from each other, especially if you are WFH. Even before the restrictions came into effect, the architect Catherine Finkernagel, co-founder of Finkernagel Ross, was receiving a lot of calls about garden studios, and she believes the trend will take off after this period of cabin fever: “When you’ve got kids running rampant with their Nerf guns and Xboxes, it’s all too much. You need a space to retreat to.”

Our favourite was actually another build by Finkernagel Ross which we found while browsing their site, the garden office pictured above and below.

It multi-fuctions as a garden office, spare accommodation, gym, and home cinema, facing away from the house and with a Grade II listed park as a background behind the garden. Here's what they say about it:

"There’s a pace to this sort of project that we relish (and which makes a change from some of our bigger projects). From careful planning, through designing, procuring and building, the studio was up and ready in just two months. We needed a little more time to design the garden spaces around the studio, and now it’s just a case of waiting for the unsealed timber cladding to weather until it matches the bark of the trees behind. Soon it will look as if it’s always been there, at one with both the garden and the woodland behind."

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Zen Cabin Houseplant Studio

RHS Chelsea is going big on houseplants this year as we reported last week. One of the most intriguing elements promises to be the Zen Cabin setup put together by biophilic design studio Ro Co. Here's what they say about it:

 "‘The Zen Cabin’ will help to realise the fantasy of a city dweller who longs for a wild, secret space to retreat to in challenging times. The planting will ignite the senses with colour, texture, sound, taste and nostalgic natural fragrances. We’ll be inviting visitors in one by one to experience an intimate peace and personal connection with houseplants and nature."

Illustration by Rachel Hillis and more information in the video below.

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Shed Of The Year returns for 2022

Entries for the 16th annual Cuprinol Shed of the Year are now open. Sheddies are encouraged to submit their creations in one of the seven categories for the chance to win the top prize of £1,000 and £100 worth of Cuprinol products. 

The categories include Workshop/Studio (pictured above is the 2021 category winner, Ally Scott's The Peculiar Pear in Hampshire) and a special section for Lockdown builds, consolidating the Lockdown New Build and Lockdown Repurpose categories introduced in 2020.

Last year’s overall winner was Danielle Zarb-Cousin who won with her chic 70s-inspired Creme de Menthe bar which she decorated using vintage and charity shop finds. “The shed became a real focus for me during a turbulent time in my life," said Danielle, "and during the first lockdown when there wasn't much to do I think it was really important for us to create spaces in our homes or gardens that gave us the opportunity to escape, unwind and relax and the shed gave me a place to sit and write my blog and to just get away from all the madness going on in the world."

Andrew Wilcox, founder and head judge of the competition, said: “For the past 16 years, sheddies up and down the country have been blowing us away with their brilliant and creative designs. I expect this year to be no different as we’ve seen people build peaceful sanctuaries to retreat to as well as building pubs, social hubs and shops in their back gardens to bring people together after lockdown measures lifted. I can’t wait to see all the imaginative and unique ways people have used their sheds over the past year.” 

Marianne Shillingford, creative director at Cuprinol, added: “Every year the Cuprinol Shed of the Year competition reaffirms just how important our sheds are to us. Whether it's a workshop, a place to socialise or a sanctuary away from the house, sheds provide us with a little place of our own and a creative outlet for an individual’s unique artistic vision. Each year we see people push what a shed can be to its limits, so I can’t wait to see some of the most eccentric, beautiful and magnificent designs this country’s sheddies have to offer.” 

Entries need to include at least two photos of their dazzling designs along with an explanation of their inspiration and what makes their shed stand out. This year’s categories are: Budget Cabin/Summerhouse, Pub & Entertainment , Unexpected/Unique, Workshop/Studio, Nature’s Haven, and Lockdown. Entries  can be submitted until April 19 at https://www.readersheds.co.uk/shedme.cfm. The shortlist will then be selected by a panel of judges before the public vote opens to select the nation’s favourite shed for 2022. Category winners will be announced in August.

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Music studio garden office: Testing Green Retreat's 'Accoustic Pack'

An interesting video by musician Alex Hutchings who talks about choosing a music studio and why he went for a model from Green Retreats who say that their acoustic pack option reduces sound transfer by up to 45db. Well worth a watch if you're considering going down this route.

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