Category Archives: Studio news

Things that are happening in the world of dha

Update to our privacy policy

We are using Google Analytics on our website to follow user engagement & to improve the way our site works for visitors.

As a result, we have updated our privacy policy, and the updated document can be viewed here.

Please do take a look, and ensure you feel comfortable with the data we are collecting, which is purely to improve the way we do business with our clients

Design Week article: Exhibition design in 2023

We were delighted when Eithne Owens, creative director at Event Communications, mentioned our work on the 2022 exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery, Tiffany: Vision & Virtuosity in her recent Design Week article, What will exhibition design look like in 2023?

Eithne described our lighting for the exhibition as ‘absolutely stunning’, in particular the way we lit the ‘Blue Book’ room, where pieces were individually haloed by light to best display the form and materiality of some of Tiffany’s most precious and delicate pieces.

It’s a great boost when one of our clients has spotted some of the work we have done, and to be mentioned in an article relating to the future of design is really very pleasing, so thank you to Eithne and Design Week for this.

The Holocaust Gallery wins best exhibition at the 2022 Design Week Awards

CDHA were delighted when Casson Mann & Squint/Opera received the award for Best Exhibition Space in the 2022 Design Week Awards recently.

The overall design concept for this new permanent exhibition brings evidence ‘into the light’: galleries suffused with colour reflect how the Holocaust was carried out in ‘plain sight’. The sky blue walls and everyday sounds evoke daylight and familiarity. Affirming recent academic thinking, they dispute the myth that horrors were perpetrated under a ‘cloak of darkness’.

As the judges said, “A very difficult subject matter that was told poetically and through simple and effective design. The use of sky blue and its meaning was very effective.”

DHA was delighted to collaborate with Casson Mann and Squint /Opera to realise this intent to show that the Holocaust was not concealed or hidden away; rather, it happened in front of the world, meticulously documented by the perpetrators.

Our lighting scheme aimed to amplify this design intent, using a background illumination that gave a distinctly different to the galleries, where previous Holocaust exhibitions had been extremely dark and dramatic, the lighting here was intentionally bright and clear.

Tiffany: Vision & Virtuosity at the Saatchi Gallery


Our latest project for Tiffany, the Vision & Virtuosity exhibition, or ‘a journey through 185 years of innovation, craftsmanship and heritage’ has opened at the Saatchi Gallery on London’s King’s Road.

The exhibition is a magnificent tour of Tiffany’s history, showcasing not only the in-house jewellery skills that have made them justly famous worldwide, but also the remarkable collaborations with other designers and creators that has kept them at the forefront of creativity since they were founded in New York in 1837.

With over 400 objects and seven exhibition sections to explore, the exhibition really does showcase the incredible range of craftsmanship the company has produced – not only in diamond jewellery, but in silverware & of course, iconic Tiffany lamps.

DHA worked with the set designers, Agence NC & video designers, La Meduse to produce seven very different rooms, each one dedicated to a key part of Tiffany’ history, from a study of their collaboration with key designers of their renowned window displays, to the role the company plays in Truman Capote’s novella, and later film, Breakfast at Tiffany’s that provided the best-known role for Audrey Hepburn: displays include her iconic Givenchy dress, the script he used and even a first draft of Capote’s novella.

The exhibition runs until the 9th August at the Saatchi Gallery, and remarkably, the exhibition is free; tickets are booked on the Saatchi app that can be downloaded from various app stores & also acts as your digital guide to the exhibition once you are there.

Holocaust Galleries shortlisted at 2022 Design Week Awards

We are delighted that our recent project with Casson Mann has been shortlisted in the Spaces category for the 2022 Design Week Awards. You can view the complete shortlist here, & while we can see the gallery is up against some great competition, we are confident the sensitive approach to this most difficult of stories to tell will be recognised by the judges.

The winners will be revealed at the end of June, so we will have to wait patiently until then, but in the meantime, congratulations to Casson Mann, Squint/Opera and all of the curators, makers, conservators, contractors and interpretation specialists we worked with to bring these spaces to life.