Several of our graduating students are taking their first steps into a professional woodworking career and have set up in business.
Here’s a look at four of our budding entrepreneurs and their equally new and shiny websites – and we’ll feature some other new woodworkers very soon.
Paddy O’Neill is not moving far from the school to set us his business, The Natural Edge. He’s moved into incubation space on campus – which gives our graduates an easy route into working for themselves. Here’s Paddy and a brilliant table he created – a perfect representation of Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh.
Nick Smith makes furniture that either stays where you put it, or moves at very high speed. (He used complex veneers to turn his Kawasaki superbike into a work of art – which won him this year’s Demarco Design Prize). He’s now setting up Strathmore Bespoke in Forfar.
Colin Bate was Students’ Choice Student of the Year for 2017, and we’re delighted he’s now setting up Highwood Furniture in his adopted Perthshire.
Roland Pettet is a master of detail and his beautiful desk and chair, in wych elm and olive ash, was inspired by the shapes of Gothic church arches. The strength and grandeur of the Gothic design is softened by the piece’s gentle curves and chamfered edges.
“Journeys begin with the first step and we wish every graduating student the very best for an interesting journey and a successful destination,” said Anselm Fraser, principal of the Chippendale school.