Me And My Home: Wonderful Copenhagen

Designer Simon Beckmann talks to Anthea Masey about his passion for Danish design

Simon Beckmann is a painter who runs Beckmann Artist Led Environmental Design, which takes on building and renovation projects as well as pioneers new ideas for outdoor shelters for use as offices, playrooms or saunas

Simon Beckmann is a painter who runs Beckmann Artist Led Environmental Design, which takes on building and renovation projects as well as pioneers new ideas for outdoor shelters for use as offices, playrooms or saunas

My wife, Donna Linington, is an illustrator, and I am an artist by training. Three years ago, we found this house in Holly Grove in Peckham, which had a large studio on the top floor that could accommodate our work.

The house is a Georgian back- to-back and is in a road of pretty flat-fronted terraces and villas in a conservation area. Originally two houses, it was broken through and made into one house in 1985 by Royal Academician, Jennifer Durrant, who bought it in a near-derelict state from Southwark council for a pound. The large studio room on the upper floor takes up the entire top floor. It is open to the rafters and feels like a loft apartment even though from the outside the house is flat-fronted Georgian. It also has north light and a long window for winching out large canvasses.

Artists always underestimate their abilities. You can't be a painter unless you have a strong visual sense and I wanted to transfer those skills to building and design. I call my company "artist-led" because that is what it is, and "environmental" because I like to use natural and recycled materials wherever possible. I am something of a hybrid and jack of all trades. Architects design something and then they supervise the builders. My approach is much more hands-on. I design and then I work with fellow artists in building the project, which means I understand how a design idea translates from the drawing board to the finished object.

Donna and I spent several years travelling in eastern Europe, India and the Far East. We were inspired by the many simple structures we saw. Most were made from local or recycled materials and it is this simplicity and purity that I want to explore. And it seems to have touched a chord. I built for a client a cedar shingle-clad sauna and with the first snow of winter I photographed it and had it made into a postcard. I use this for advertising my business and they disappear like hot cakes whenever I put them out.

Our house, which is now in stage three of its renovation, is also a showcase for my ideas. When we first moved in we discovered there was a lot to do. The house had to be replumbed, rewired, reinsulated,and the basement had to be damp-proofed. Most horrifying of all was finding a live mains electricity cable in the basement. It could have killed someone. We called in the electricity board and they were round in about 15 minutes flat.

We use half the upstairs studio as our living room. We have installed a stainless-steel pither stove in the chimney breast, and I have used a couple of my trademark materials: recycled French oak boards, which I buy from a Latvian dealer based in France, and white Formica-fronted birch ply.

A tall Sixties Danish armoire is my pride and joy. I am a great enthusiast for Sixties and Seventies furniture and lighting. I buy a lot of Danish furniture for my clients, and I promised myself that if I made enough money selling some other pieces, I would keep this sideboard for myself. What I like about it is the pressed triangular pattern on the doors. I don't know exactly how they achieved the effect but they must have taken a thin layer of veneer and pressed it over a raised pattern on the solid pine underneath.

I have put my collection of Sixties German earthenware vases on top. Individually, they are nothing special but displayed together they make quite an impact. They were mass produced and I have never paid more than £10 for any of them. In the Sixties, I can remember vases like this full of honesty and twigs but I think they look better left empty.

Collecting is quite a passion of mine. My collection of swirly glass vases from the same era is now arranged on top of a plan chest in the studio; and I am currently obsessed with Royal Copenhagen dedication ware. Each year Royal Copenhagen commissions an artist to do an anniversary dedication mug with the date on it. There is a little silver plaque embedded in the bottom, which can be engraved. I now have several large and small mugs from the Seventies. I also collect English Ercol furniture from the Fifties. These are delicate designs using beech and elm. I have two rocking chairs, a sofa that I have had reupholstered in a beige tweedy material (very Fifties), six dining room chairs, and a railway arch full of Ercol waiting to be renovated.

The kitchen, bedrooms and bathrooms are on the raised ground floor and the next stage of work will see us expanding in to the basement. I like mixing the modern with classics from the middle years of the last century. I then like to add a few baroque pieces to bring a touch of humour to what can be quite an austere look. The kitchen has a large white Formica island unit and cupboards fitted under the stairs which hide all the appliances. For the dining room table I have departed from my usual white Formica and used an apple green instead.

Above it are three Murano glass shades, also from the Sixties, in green, white and orange. It was a while before I twigged that they were the colours of the Italian flag. The room's centrepiece is an elaborately carved and painted Catalan bench, which was cannibalised from a bed that belonged to Donna's family. The back is 18th century and is painted with the Catalan Our Lady of Mount Carmel Madonna and child.

Simon Beckmann's website is www.beckmann5.co.uk