Ruaraidh Stewart, from Aberdeenshire, is a student who displays a great deal of enterprise. A former soldier with the Black Watch (3 Scots) who saw service in Afghanistan, Ruaraidh is nothing if not resourceful. He’s managing to combine his studies at the Chippendale school in parallel with making two monumental wardrobes for a customer in …
Students at the Chippendale school are required to make a number of pieces during the year, but our ethos is to allow students the freedom to create what they particularly want to make. It’s a freedom that gives students a chance to make practical pieces for their own homes, or as gifts to close family …
Most of the pieces that our students make are constructed from the more common timber species such as oak, olive ash or sycamore. So it’s always fascinating when a student uses an unusual species, trusting in their ability and imagination to fashion something both unique and very beautiful. That’s what John Grillo, a former business …
It’s always nice to hear from former students. Grant Palmer, a former policeman, who graduated in 2017, set up Dovetail & Rabbet to specialise in handcrafted furniture and bespoke kitchens. His signature piece, a beautifully-crafted drinks globe with an interior gilded in gold, is now earning him commission sales, partly on the back of coverage …
One of the marks of an extremely gifted student is someone who doesn’t suffer waste gladly, and will try to find value where others might only see rubbish. That’s a trait exhibited by Matt Hanley, from Leominster in Herefordshire, who is creating a whole array of wooden bowls from off-cuts of wood that might otherwise …
Isaac Young, from Suffolk, has already shown that youth is no impediment to designing and creating beautiful and inspiring pieces of furniture. His last piece, for example, was a walnut and olive ash sideboard cabinet comprising well over 400 precisely cut pieces of wood. The tambour doors to his cabinet were constructed from thin strips …
