Introducing the garden door by Emma Britton

Designer Emma Britton, who creates artisan splashbacks, glassware, and bespoke commissions, was invited to work her magic on an Urban Front door. The result is gorgeous and unique, conjuring up English gardens, meadows, and hedgerows. Here’s how she found the experience.

How does the size of the Urban Front door compare with the splashbacks you usually work on?
Some of the bigger glass splashback commissions I work on for kitchens and bathrooms are a similar size to an Urban Front door, usually taking me days to paint. I like to paint to scale as I can see how the evolving design will be perfect for both the product and its interior application.

 How different is painting on the door surface?
Painting on the door required special paints that are also used for the base colour, so they behaved differently to my normal palette. I enjoyed the challenge of working with new materials and picking out the pastel paint shades to complement the green of the Urban Front door.

How did you find the experience of painting the door?
As a small business owner, my day-to-day involves wearing many hats and juggling multiple priorities, so spending time painting and being present in the Urban Front showroom was a real treat and a lot of fun.

 Where do you get your inspiration from?
British Suburbia, which is quite apt for a front door commission. I am inspired by British garden flowers and the happy accidental colour palettes nature often creates. I’m particularly drawn to plants with architectural qualities, with beautiful petal shapes and imposing structures, like foxgloves, delphiniums, alliums and agapanthus, which all feature on the door and in my own glass collections.

Have you painted any other different/usual objects/murals/furniture?
All my designs start life as hand paintings, which are then developed into products including my studio etched glassware. Funnily enough, when I was younger, I painted lots of wall murals, and now for a living I get to paint beautiful designs for glass splashbacks. Painting the door for Urban Front was a full circle moment. 

 Did you enjoy painting the door?
I love innovating my practice and the chance to showcase your beautiful doors in a new way was a wonderful commission to receive. Bringing my signature aesthetic to life for Urban Front has been creatively exciting. It has been wonderful applying my process to a different product.