Student Stories

How the Chippendale School supports international students      

The clue is in our name – at the Chippendale International School of Furniture, we welcome students from around the world to our magical corner of East Lothian.  

Every year, around half of our Professional Course students come from overseas, so we understand the unique challenges they face, from finding suitable accommodation to battling homesickness. We try to make the transition easy from the off, even offering a special travel bursary to help with the costs of relocating to Scotland.  

We sat down with school principal Tom Fraser to shed light on how we support international students when they come to study at our furniture making school.  

The Rise of Slow Furniture: Why Sustainable and Ethical Design is the Future    

From food to fashion and even furniture, there has been a noticeable shift in consumer shopping habits in the past few years. A Deloitte study found that shoppers are more socially conscious – reducing the number of new purchases and, when they do buy new, are now more inclined to choose brands based on their sustainability and ethical practices.   

This shift can be attributed to the “slow living” movement which, according to Google’s Culture and Trends team, took off during the pandemic, with a rise in people searching for this term online. ‘Slow living’ means to live with intention and mindfulness, prioritising ethics. This has also manifested in the design world, with independent creators and even large brands (seemingly) concerned with the problem of overproduction and overconsumption.   

As the world becomes more aware of the impact mass consumption has on the environment, the slow furniture movement is gaining momentum. In this blog, we explore why embracing this new era of furniture design is not only good for the planet, but for the soul too…  

Life after the Professional Course: Katie Richter’s woodworking journey so far   

For nearly 40 years, the Chippendale School has welcomed students to our workshops with hopes of turning their dreams of starting fine furniture making careers into a reality. 

Whether it’s someone straight out of university who’s had a change of heart, or a mid-life career changer looking for a new challenge, our students each have a unique backstory and all share a love of woodworking. 

Katie Richter is a graduate from our 2022/23 Professional Course. After leaving a demanding job, Katie wanted to pursue woodworking so she could reclaim a work-life balance while doing something she loved. 

We spoke to Katie to find out why furniture making is her passion and how she has found life since graduating from our school.