Dungeness Revisited

Published 16.07.2018

In 2016, for the launch of the Sofa In Sight upholstery collection, SCP took a trip down to Kent, for a photoshoot at a particularly special location; The Experimental Station in Dungeness.

A private residence that is located on the site of the vacated Trinity House Experimental Station (the organisation responsible for the maintenance of English Lighthouses), this project by interior architects Johnson Naylor has all the hallmarks of their sensitive and contextual approach to design. The site is a combination of new builds and refurbishments of existing structures and comprises both living spaces and working studios.

Working with long-time collaborator Mark Farrow as Art Director and John Ross as photographer for the shoot, SCP brought to Dungeness the entire Sofa In Sight collection, with designs from Michael Anastassiades, Konstantin Grcic, Faudet-Harrison, Matthew Hilton, Lucy Kurrein and Terence Woodgate.

The collection explores ideas in modern upholstery making through six different sofas. It was fascinating to see how six very different designers would respond to exactly the same brief: create a new sofa design using SCP’s specialist upholstery making factory in Norfolk, using renewable materials, traditional techniques and highly skilled craftsmen.

The shoot itself took place on a day of typically changeable coastal weather, with clouds passing fast and a harsh chill unseen in the photographs. Throughout the day, as well as the professional images being taken, a behind the scenes set of film images were also created by two amateur photographers using old SLR cameras.

The result of the day is a set of images that capture both the wonder of the spaces, the vibrancy of the new sofas and the strange atmosphere of Dungeness itself; a place where nothing seems anchored, but a place where great quiet can be found.

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