Brian London, originally from North Carolina, is a retired law enforcement officer now living near Niort in France.
His first project at the school was a Queen Anne-inspired gate-leg, drop-leaf table that will be a gift to his daughter.
He chose the design because a round table of this design is better suited for smaller apartments. It can be pushed against a wall as a console table or opened out as a dining table.
His second project is also intended as a gift, this time to his wife. His Thomas Chippendale-inspired “low boy” is a beautifully-executed piece made from sycamore with hand-carved ball-and-claw feet.
It’s an apt inspiration, with this year being the 300th anniversary of Chippendale’s birth.
Carving the cabinet’s feet was the most difficult part of the project, with the legs taking at least two weeks to complete.
Brian is a former Marine officer who then worked as a police officer, then for the Federal government for over 30 years as a supervisory Treasury agent and, later, Homeland Security. He was also Executive Director of INTERPOL in Lyon, France.
His love of woodworking is possibly genetic, as his grandfather was a carpenter, and his father also took up woodworking in retirement.