Garden Sanctuary by Koto – Dwell

It was called a natural selection, but when landscape design firm Garden Club London was invited to participate in the 2022 Chelsea Flower Show, a prestigious outdoor party in London’s Chelsea district, her team invited Cotto.

“The Garden Club, in particular [managing director] Tony Woods was looking for a partner who could offer a sustainable element and real sculpting to their plans,” says Zoë Little, co-founder of Koto, a UK turnkey design firm that manufactures black engineered cabins.

Little and her colleagues implemented ordinary wood and glass to create a completely carbon-neutral haven in their amazing “Japandi” style. The black exterior cladding is shou sugi ban, the Japanese wood charring process that makes the exterior cladding resistant to weathering, fire, and pests. Inside, the roughly 140-square-foot interior is finished in lighter wood reminiscent of Scandinavian design. Furniture curated by Menu provides a place to relax by Morsø’s wood-burning fireplace.

The goal, Little says, is for attendees at the flower show to take a respite in the shade of the cabin without losing sight of its surroundings. “We hope that visitors will see how beautiful and functional garden rooms can be,” she adds.

The indoor/outdoor exhibit, known as the Garden Sanctuary, curated by estate agent Hamptons, will be open to the public from May 23 through May 28 at the Royal Hospital. “The garden is designed to get us out of our homes, and let’s decompress, play, and reconnect,” Little says. The structural cabin is also intended to balance the smoothness of pollination of densely planted plants and trees.

Outside of the flower show, Koto hopes the cabin, priced at $75,000, will appeal to people looking to take their vacations in the backyard. “The Garden Club wanted it to be a truly multifunctional place that caters to people who work from home and who also want a place to meditate and relax,” Little says.