Uncategorised

In a world of automation, we’ve never needed handcraft more

Although technology has made our lives easier in many ways, there are still some things it can’t replace – a treasured family heirloom, a handcrafted piece of furniture and a one-of-a-kind artwork will always spark a joy that mass-produced pieces cannot match. 

The Covid-19 lockdown period also introduced a new wave of people to the joys of making things by hand – the UK’s largest craft retailer, Hobbycraft, saw the numbers of people visiting the ‘ideas’ page on their website triple since lockdown began. We have seen an influx of enquiries about our cabinet courses of all levels too which is extremely exciting for our age-old craft. 

A current student’s story: Fran Bullinger

We hear from current student Fran Bullinger about her experience of studying at the Chippendale School so far.

Top schools for alternative education

It’s well-known that some conventional routes into education just aren’t right for everyone. If you’ve mostly enjoyed marching to the beat of your own drum rather than toeing the conventional lines, you might find yourself looking for alternative pathways to further and higher education.  

How to change career in mid-life

Life’s unexpected twists and turns force us out of our comfort zones. Due to the current global health crisis, millions of people are left feeling like life is on hold through lockdown, furlough, and new-found home working. 

If you’ve been spending recent days and weeks pondering what to do with your time and in the months after lockdown, a career change is likely to have crossed your mind. 

Why successful furniture makers need woodworking AND business skills

For many of our students, setting up shop as a furniture maker is a long-held dream. Opening a workshop and making beautiful pieces of furniture for appreciative customers – what could be better?

While this is certainly a reality for a lot of our graduates, they didn’t become successful furniture makers through being great woodworkers alone. They also spent time developing business skills to help them bring their dreams into fruition.