You might think that our main task at the Chippendale school is to teach fine furniture design and making. If so, you’d be wrong. Our role is to unlock inspiration. Our students come from all over the world. This year from the Falkland Islands to the USA; from New Zealand to India; from the UK …
We’ve ended the year with our last one week “taster” course for 2017. Ten students have enjoyed the pre-Christmas course, learning DIY skills that they can usefully take home with them. Some one-week students have been on several courses with us, gradually building up their confidence and skills. Others combine the course with a longer …
Most of our students, whether they come to us from school, college or for a second career, have long had furniture design at the back of their minds. But, like any passion, it sometimes takes a few years before the time seems right to pursue that woodworking dream. That’s true of Stephen Barr, originally from …
Every furniture school has its own way of teaching the skills needed to become a fine furniture designer and maker. Some schools, for example, require students to endlessly make and remake dovetails until they are perfect. Only then will they learn something new. It’s a teaching approach that makes for dovetail excellence, but at some …
An immersive course at the Chippendale school involves a great deal of hard work…for most of the time. But we also like to mix hard work with fun because what we learn with pleasure we never forget. For example, being an international school, we celebrate the various festivals and national days that are commemorated in …
Charlie Camp, from Wellington in New Zealand, already knows a thing or two about wood, having completed a four-year building apprenticeship. Born in Grimsby in the north-east of England, Charlie and her parents moved to New Zealand when she was six-months-old. She completed her apprenticeship working for her father’s NZ building company, learning everything to …
