Quick five questions – Steve Keeling, founding partner of DKT Artworks
17th November 2022
Your work can be seen all over the world on the most extraordinary superyachts, do you also work for private domestic clients?
Indeed we do. We work on residential projects within the UK and particularly in London, where residential work was the seed of DKT Artworks formation and is still an important focus for our creativity. Our first overseas residential project was in Hong Kong, in 1981, since when we’ve worked, on site, in many other exotic locations around the world, often collaborating with local companies.
Art et Floritude, Paris, for the “Dentelle et Porcelain” wall-mounted lighting
Are your artisans all based in the UK or do you work with craftsmen from around the world?
Our London studio is DKT’s creative hub and almost all of our non-site work is carried out on our premises. Typically for London, these days, our team hails from the various parts of the UK and many other countries. We also work in collaboration with like-minded, specialist companies in the UK as well as in Austria, Czech Republic, Eire, France, Holland, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, to name but a few.
How much consideration goes in to how the materials you use will look in 20, 50 or 100 years?
We use the best and most appropriate materials and processes for everything we produce. In the instance of decorative finishes, we tend to think of our work lasting as long as a change of decorative scheme or, notwithstanding that, lasting as long as the surfaces they have been applied to. As for our artworks, we look on them as having an indefinite life span, as long as our guidelines for proper maintenance are followed.
Detailed bas-relief, cast in resin with white marble dust, made for an alpine chalet
The ingenuity and design of DKTs work is breathtaking. Do you allow visits to your workshop?
We actively encourage visits to our studio/workshop. It’s really the only way for designers to take on-board the range of skills our team offer. Apart from our library of samples for loan and past prototypes on display, there’s usually something interesting underway.
A bespoke Gosling rosewood and red jappaned lacquer drinks cabinet.
Is there one stand out creation you are most proud of?
In essence, it’s whole projects rather than individual pieces of work which stand out in this respect. Projects where the scale and complexity of the task ahead was daunting, but which our team overcame with considerable success, realising that, collectively, we are capable of more than we had previous appreciated. These are the projects of which I’m most proud. They help us hold on to the belief that DKT holds value for the industry, but I’m afraid I’m reluctant to single out any one particular project. Please excuse the side-step.