As an international furniture design and making school, our students come from far and wide. This year on our professional course we had students from the USA, Canada, Iceland, UK, Ireland, Australia, Poland and Germany. On our one-month intermediate course we’ve had students from as far away as Trinidad and Tobago and Brazil. More usually, …
Giuseppe Merlino from the north of Italy is a graduating student whose pieces contain so much design inspiration. First it was a Bauhaus-inspired writing desk, containing much design elegance. It perfectly combines form and function in a table that is both simple, complex and architectural. Giuseppe, from near Milan, was previously a post-doctoral researcher in …
Tom Smyth’s stand-out piece during his year with us was a monumental garden seat. His inspiration for the seat came from work he carried out on the roof of a listed 400-year-old timber framed barn in Hampshire. The link between a roofing project and a garden seat may not seem obvious, but you have to …
To be successful, furniture designers must have that indefinable X-factor. One student who has that talent in spades is Gordon Young from Edinburgh. His beautiful and functional desk in oak and flamed beech is sinuous, tactile and hugely practical. Gordon, who has a Masters degree in civil engineering from Heriot-Watt University, is someone who has …
Fiona Gilfillan is a designer who can add a touch of humour to her pieces. Fiona Gilfillan from East Lothian became the second student on our newly-introduced month-long intermediate course last year. However, sawdust got into her veins, and she then enrolled on our 2018/19 professional course. She’s now graduated with flying colours and her …
Paul Hartman from Alberta, Canada made one of the most beautiful rocking chairs that we’ve seen for some years. It was inspired by the late-great Sam Maloof whose rockers are in national collections, and have been owned by US presidents. What was great about it was that Paul ‘wove’ the seat back into a complex …
