For many years, the Chippendale school only offered a nine-month professional furniture design and making course, giving our students a pathway into a career in fine woodworking.

More recently, we also introduced a one-week introductory course, providing students with a grounding in woodworking and, last year, a one-month intermediate course.

Our one-month course has proved immensely popular, with students coming to us from as far away as Trinidad & Tobago and Brazil, with a current intermediate course student coming from Spain.

As people passionate about woodworking, we’ve always wanted to share that love for working with wood – and we recognise that some students simply want a very basic introduction to woodworking.

That’s why we’re starting a number of woodturning weekends this summer, which are intended to be fun, informative and accessible – even to someone who has never picked up a chisel before!

Adam Stone, the school’s woodturning specialist will be teaching the courses.  They will focus on woodturning and round joinery, although also designed to be scalable, so that students can then apply the skills they learn to a whole range of DIY projects.

During the weekend, students will make a stool or plant stand, with a wooden turned top and three legs, which will teach a number of core skills including fashioning tenons and tapered legs – and, if they learn those skills, to also turn a bowl.

We will start with two weekends, and further dates may be added if there is sufficient demand:

20th – 21st July

 3rd – 4th August

 Early booking is advised as we’re only taking a maximum of four students each weekend, and an application form can be downloaded here

Fees

The fee for the weekend course is £300, with a £100 deposit payable to secure your place, the balance of the fees is then payable one month before the start of the course.

This covers your tuition and materials.