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Chippendale Furniture Making School teaches the ancient skills of wood carving Chippendale Furniture Making School teaches the ancient skills of wood carving
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Chippendale News

Chippendale Furniture Making School teaches the ancient skills of wood carving

An interview with Charles Oldham, fine wood carver and member of the Master Carvers’ Association.

Charles Oldham, a master wood carver, believes passionately in preserving the ancient skills he learned from an older generation of carvers; teaching woodworking students at the Chippendale International School of Furniture provides an opportunity to pass on these skills.

Charles Oldham specialises in restoration, architectural wood carving, letter cutting, carved and gilded ornaments, and gesso cutting. Charles has worked on a number of high profile restoration projects amongst them Windsor Castle, Hampton Court Palace, Spenser House and Tredegar House.

Charles Oldham, master wood carver, in the Chippendale Furniture School's purpose-built workshop.

Charles Oldham, master wood carver, in the Chippendale Furniture School's purpose-built workshop.

How did you get into wood carving?

“After going to St Albans Art College and Bath College, I served my apprenticeship in three London wood carving workshops run by master carvers. Once there I carved eighteenth century style fireplaces and picture frames. I also restored fine carved and gilded furniture and mirror frames from the auction houses and the antiques trade.

“I went on to set up my own workshop, Charles Oldham Fine Wood Carving, now in Frome, Somerset. Current clients include cabinet makers, architects, the National Trust, antique dealers, conservation firms, restorers and individuals. I work with existing designs, interpret designs and design new work. Chippendale mirror frames are one big area of work – baroque, rococo, neo classical and regency – and I’m currently moving more into sculpture as well.”

What are your favourite commissions?

“I was fortunate enough to be asked to carve some ceiling bosses for Windsor Castle.

“I’ve also carved a life sized pony for the National Trust Carriage Museum in Devon.

“More recently, Salisbury Art Centre had to cut down a yew tree. The wood was given out to different artists and cabinet makers for the ‘Yew Tree Exhibition’. I carved a ‘ewe’ from the yew based on an idea from Henry Moore’s sheep sketch book (one of my favourite sources!). The Art Centre liked the piece so much that they bought it.”

You can see photos of Charles’s beautiful life-sized Pony and Ewe from Yew on our Facebook page.

“Some of my best restoration work is in Redland Chapel, a perfect Baroque building in Bristol where I restored the Gibbons style foliage and cherubs.

“Last year Anselm Fraser [principal of the Furniture School] and I designed and carved a fantastic Gothic doorway in Dunkeld, north of Perth in Scotland.

The pony carved by Charles Oldham master carver.

The pony carved by Charles Oldham master carver.

“One of my more unusual commissions has been carving a dog’s bed for a Labradoodle called Oswald! This is really a very elegant William Kent style piece of furniture.”

What do you teach the students at the Chippendale International School of Furniture?

“This is now my fifth year. I always enjoy my two week visit in the summer term.

“The students learn about carved ‘ornament’ and where they can use it. I use 3 carving exercises to teach the students: carving foliage and a lion’s head, through to creating a mirror frame.  They learn about design drawings, carving techniques, chisels and how to sharpen carving tools.

“Each student carves with a different character. You can begin to see which direction they want to go in from the character of their work.”

What’s your impression of the Chippendale School of Furniture?

“It’s very nice to be working with people again, and there are a great range of ages and nationalities. The School of Furniture has a really refreshing attitude – it lets everyone be their own character instead of telling them to do things in a particular way.”

More information is available at Charles Oldham’s website.

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Chippendale School of Furniture Student Wins National Award

An interview with Alasdair Easton, a former student at the Chippendale International School of Furniture, the leading furniture school near Edinburgh in Scotland

Alasdair Easton’s career advisor at school said he had two options: woodwork or computing. He loved woodwork. However, it was the early eighties, home computers were the latest thing and Alasdair chose the computing route, building a career in software development and project management at the Royal Bank of Scotland. Last year, after a career change, he graduated from the Chippendale International School of Furniture near Edinburgh, having won the Scottish Furniture Makers’ Association Student Award 2010.

After 12 Years at the Royal Bank of Scotland, he decided that he wanted to do something more creative and produce a more tangible product, so he swapped corporate life for an intensive 30 week course at the Chippendale International School of Furniture. His aim is to take pride in creating pieces that customers take pride in owning; a happy and rewarding arrangement for both client and maker.

Alasdair Easton describes how he came up with his award winning items of furniture during his first term:

“I was sketching ideas in front of the TV one evening, experimenting with lines and arcs, when I stumbled on a set of intersecting curves that I immediately liked. They became the side view of the chair, and I developed the rest from there. I wanted the chair to be sturdy but lightened by the curves.”

The impressive result was a dark, fumed, oak chair with a subtle, sycamore pinstripe running through the arms and legs. Alasdair Easton’s chair captured the imagination of the Scottish Furniture Makers’ Association (SFMA) judging panel, who honoured Alasdair with their Student Award 2010. The prize included the right to exhibit at the SFMA’s prestigious ‘New Scottish Furniture’ show in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and he was also presented with a generous cheque by sponsors Maggie and Jim Birley of Scottish Wood, based in Dunfermline north of Edinburgh.

When asked about his experience of the course at Chippendale International School of Furniture, Alasdair says:

“I wanted to be immersed in a creative environment, surrounded by diverse, motivated people. The school easily lived up to that. Typical days start with a lecture lasting 10 to 40 minutes, then the rest of the day is split between bench skills and working on your project. The course is incredibly hands-on and very practical.
Alasdair’s dark, fumed, oak chair with intersecting arcs and subtle, sycamore pinstripe running through the arms and legs.

alasdairs-chair“Being at the school was unforgettable – a really rich experience in a beautiful location with people from lots of different countries and backgrounds. It’s an intensive course and the students were very dedicated. You have to put everything into it – you have great shared experiences.

“I particularly liked the sections of the course on solid wood. I also enjoyed wood turning and there’s a wealth of knowledge on finishing. The course is really rigorous and great fun.”

Alasdair’s second term projects included a large walnut drinks cabinet, a gilded mirror and a table to go with his award-winning chair. The drinks cabinet was later sold at the students’ end of year exhibition in June.

After graduating many of the Chippendale School’s alumni develop their own furniture making and cabinet making businesses. Alasdair set up Organic Geometry www.organicgeometry.co.uk to custom-design and hand-make beautiful furniture and kitchens for homes and businesses. His start-up business is based in the ‘Incubation Centre’ at the furniture school where graduates can continue to be part of a community of like-minded people. They benefit from workspace at subsidised rates, collaboration opportunities and access to tutors and wood working machinery.

Taking advantage of the tremendous local hardwoods available in Scotland, Alasdair now accepts commissions for almost any piece of furniture, from book-cases to entire library commissions, simple window seats to spectacular dining tables and fully bespoke wood kitchens.

Alasdair adds: “When I was at the Chippendale School of Furniture, I developed my own design style, and refined some of my thoughts on wood, our environment and sustainability.”

Organic Geometry’s recent commissions have included a ‘chunky gothic’ style king-sized bed and bedside cabinets for a converted church in Aberdeenshire, and an elegant boat-shaped book-case, all of which are made with solid local East Lothian oak. Alasdair is also restoring some antique chairs and a Davenport desk, and was commissioned by the product designer Anna Hammond to make an unusual ‘messaging chair’ which was exhibited at the internationally renowned London Design Festival.

More information is available at www.chippendale.co.uk (or in the US www.chippendaleschool.com), info@chippendale.co.uk or (44) 0 1620 810680 from the School’s principal, Anselm Fraser. Information is also available from Christopher Lamotte at Real Marketing Specialists www.real-m.com on 07957 870071 or c.lamotte@real-m.com

Alasdair Easton can be contacted via www.organicgeometry.co.uk or on 07763 126 765.

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Jumping around to keep warm

Enjoying early snow at the Chippendale School of Furniture

Here in the rolling landscapes of East Lothian, we’re only 20 minutes from sandy beaches and usually enjoy relatively mild winters.

Not in December 2010! Temperatures plummeted to -12C bringing over a foot and a half of powdery early snow, so we thought we’d jump around to keep warm.

See more photos on Facebook.

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An Unexpected Visitor

An Unexpected Visitor to the Carpentry School

Yesterday this juvenile hedgehog appeared out the blue, wandered across the car park and spent about half an hour snuffling around on grass outside the workshop.  Everyone took a break to come outside to see it, and it was totally unperturbed by our presence despite the fact we got really close to it.  In fact, its refusal to engage defences suggests that it may not too long before it shuffles off this mortal coil.  Still, it was a lovely sight and we all hope it pops back sometime before winter

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Chippendale on NY catwalk

Anselm captured the imagination of the Scottish press recently with his latest ‘invention’, a wooden kilt. Puns were thrown around like buns at a foodfight as they reported on this magnificant design that featured on the New York catwalk. Anselm’s kilt was shown at the Dressed to Kilt fashion show which kicked off New York’s annual Tartan Week celebrations on Monday 30th March 2009. The following article was published on page three of the Edinburgh Evening News:
View the Edinburgh Evening News article

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Chippendale International School of Furniture
Gifford
East Lothian
EH41 4JA near Edinburgh
Scotland
UK

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