Painting, the backdrop to family life

Twenty years ago, Dan Hennah left a career in the movie industry to found the successful Sublime Coffee company. Not long after, a Pacific-inspired painting came into his life that has ended up becoming special to him in more ways than one. He told the story to Matt Lawrey.

Dan Hennah’s favourite artwork is a large, colourful painting that, in many ways, sums up the vibe of his family’s life.

The untitled, contemporary painting by Kathryn Furniss depicts a domestic scene featuring a table, bowl, jug, wine glass, and salad fork, along with a view of the sea and sails. It became part of Dan’s world through his relationship with his partner in life and business, his wife Emma.

Kathryn gave the painting to Emma as a gift not long before the Hennahs got together. Emma and Kathryn lived around the corner from each other, and in between their homes sat the Haven Rd house where, in 2005, Dan launched Sublime.

It was this geographical proximity that led to Dan and Emma connecting.

“Emma lived up the top of Russell St, Kathryn lived next to Sublime. Emma was such good friends with Kathryn and she would walk past at beer-o’clock every day,” Dan laughs.

Today, the painting occupies a prominent wall in the Hennahs’ home in Tāhunanui.

“The thing I really love about it is that it has a mood that’s really the backdrop of our family life,” Dan says.

“It’s kind of got that light holiday feel to it, and we’ve had such a nice time with the kids growing up. It feels like you’re setting up for an evening with everyone and bringing everyone together.”

Over the years, the artwork has always occupied a high-profile spot in the family’s homes, except for a period when it went missing.

“Misplaced” during a move, the painting sat rolled up in Dan’s sister’s family’s garage for a number of years. Back then the painting was unframed, and Dan says they were “pumped” when they found it. In fact, they were so happy, they decided to get it framed by their friend Lance Trolle. It was a move that felt significant.

“I don’t want to make it sound too deep, but it felt quite different. It felt like a development in general; like we’d gone to full adult life because it was no longer a crinkled-up thing that would get blown by the wind, it was a bit more substantial,” Dan says.

The painting was framed in the state it was in when Dan and Emma were reunited with it.

“We didn’t want Lance to flatten it out. We wanted it to still have the full story and its creases and travels intact,” Dan says.

One of the many things Dan likes about the painting is that it doesn’t present a picture-perfect postcard image.

“I quite like that there’s a cloud in it. There’s the idea that sometimes things are stormy and there’s rain. It’s got the full spectrum, and, in a funny way, you can enjoy that stuff too,” he says.

Dan says when he first saw the painting, it made him think of Emma.

“It’s bright and vibrant and she’s bright and vibrant too.”

Dan grew up in the film industry. His art director father, also named Dan, won an Academy Award for his work on The Lord of the Rings and his mother, Chris, has worked in the art departments of a host of big-budget films, including The Hobbit, The Frighteners and Underworld: Rise of the Lycans.

“Because of the movie game, I just grew up everywhere… it would be a month in Rotorua and then six months in Auckland and then three months in Queenstown. We lived in Tahiti for four or five months. In those days, you just showed up and went to a new school. I think I went to 12 or 13 primary schools,” he says.

He spent most of his twenties working in the movies, mainly in art departments and on physical effects, which included everything from creating smoke and atmosphere to much more challenging exercises.

“We did a lot of flinging people around in harnesses with a big hydraulic ram. We also made these giant hinges and put them under trees so we would know where the trees would fall.”

When Dan launched Sublime, his goal was to start a new post-movie industry future for himself.

“I just wanted to start a business,” he says.

Initially, his plan was to roast 100 kilogrammes of coffee beans a week. It took a year to reach that milestone, and today the company is roasting three tonnes a week.

It’s an achievement that Dan still has a hard time getting his head around.

“In the early days I didn’t dream that we’d get to one tonne,” he laughs.

Today, Sublime has 35 staff working across four locations. The company supplies around 100 cafés across the country and also sells coffee through supermarkets.

He and Emma also have a new long-term project on their hands, having recently bought Bridge Street Studios in the old Molly’s building on Bridge St.

“We’re loving it. It’s a tough time in the world of coffee, but we’ve been through them before. It’s like the weather. It doesn’t really affect plans; you just have to change how you operate.”