Podcast: Familiar items, iconic designs

Birth of the hammock bath

Chatting to to interior designer Nataliya Lloyd about how it all began for Splinterworks, Miles explains how he and co-founder Matt Withington were approached by a company that manufactured carbon fibre components for racing cars.

Looking for something new to make using their technical machinery in between racing seasons, Miles and Matt played around with carbon fibre, wondering what this versatile material – which is fabric in its original form – would lend itself to. Its ability to go from cloth to one of the strongest but lightest materials in the world, gave them the inspiration to use it to create a bath tub that replicated a relaxing hammock.

“It was a labour of love really. It took a lot longer than we ever thought, and about two years to get to the point of having a prototype!”

The redesign of the pool slide

After the success of the hammock bath, the company was approached with briefs for some different types of projects, and the opportunity to design a pool slide came up.

“People spend a lot of time, effort and money creating beautiful pool areas. They have kids or grandkids, the kids want to play on something in the pool, but they don’t want to put an ugly plastic slide in their landscaped garden.”

Ideas for a sculptural slide design came quickly, but Miles confesses it took a long time to develop. The design duo soon realised why most pool slides are blue or grey and plastic; because in the US, and in the EU, the safety regulations are extensive.

But Splinterworks rose to the challenge and managed to design something sculptural, beautiful and original but within those regulatory limitations and now have a portfolio of luxury, hand made slides.

“Our slides are probably the biggest part of our business today. No other companies make pool slides like we do, they are unique..

We learn a little about you, your lifestyle, your family, your pool area.. then we’ll tailor something to suit you, and it’s made bespoke, by hand, for you, and it takes months.”

The full interview

Listen to Miles talk further about his own self-designed architectural kitchen, his home life in Bath, and his personal style on the Beehive Household with Nataliya.