Dawn Higgins is from Full Moon Tiny Shelters, where she creates buildings under 200 square feet, alongside her business partners Jennifer Constable and James Constable. They are passionate about these buildings as they believe that size is not everything, and that tiny can be beautiful. Dawn has spent over 20 years building successful micro businesses, Jennifer has lived on a boat for years so adores small ingenious spaces and James is an established carpenter, having spent time building custom boat interiors. So we are proud to bring you the Designer Insights of Dawn Higgins.
Image Credit: 1) Home Designing 2) El Fenn 3) Syle Files 4) Junglaow 5) James Cooper
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1) In your own words describe your unique style and creative aesthetic?
The three of us have a similar aesthetic that tends to the minimal, with a deep appreciation of fine craftsmanship. Deliberate, beautiful, functional.
2) When starting a new project, what is your creative process?
Our work is mostly custom, so it’s a collaborative process. It starts with questions. What needs to happen in this space? Where will it sit, or will it travel? We also ask the client to gather photos of spaces they like. This almost always reveals a “theme.”
3) Out of the creative people you have worked with, who is it that you respect and admire the most?
We come to tiny shelters from fairly different backgrounds (permaculture, furniture making & film), mostly eschewing traditional education for apprenticing. We’ve all had the privilege of working with & being exposed to many disparate artists, craftspeople & designers. We are admirers of James Krenov’s furniture, Geoff Lawton’s plant-scapes, & John Walker’s films. These are all people taking inspiration & direction from their materials.
4) When looking for inspiration is there a particular thing you do to get inspired?
We are inspired by all kinds of ideas; concepts & attitudes we find in music, landscape, movement, writing, other cultural perspectives. When designing my own tiny house, I thought a lot about ‘freedom’. How might that look, if it were a room, a chair, a colour?”
5) What has brought you to this point in your career? And what is your advice for people looking to follow in your footsteps?
Life seems to have brought us here. Follow the breadcrumbs that make you feel connected & curious. They will lead (more often than not) to something far more interesting than you could have imagined. The kind of future we create now depends on our ability & willingness to co-operate & collaborate. I’m a fan of co-creating. I think we can expand our horizons & our experiments & create a larger vision by coming together.
