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Choosing your tree to make flawless furniture

Uncategorised, Woodworking Tips

The Chippendale International School of Furniture, half an hour from Edinburgh, is situated in rolling East Lothian countryside close to fantastic mature forests of oak, elm, lime, ash, chestnut, sycamore and beech trees; an environment with all the raw materials needed to make flawless furniture.

“We teach students on our nine month course to plant a tree, choose a tree, fell it and plank it,” says Anselm Fraser, Chippendale Furniture School Principal.
“There is much more to selecting a good tree for furniture making than you might think. You need to understand the effects of shrinkage, defects in the wood and warp.”

Chippendale Furniture student launches business in Chippendale Incubator

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A blog by David Lonsdale a former Chippendale International School of Furniture student who has set up a furniture business in the Chippendale Furniture Incubator.

What sort of work were you doing before becoming a student at the Chippendale International School of Furniture?

I previously worked in sheet metal fabrication for an aerospace company (Midland Aerospace). Working with metal I believe is a good flow through for then working with wood as you need the same attention to detail and very high tolerances especially with aerospace.

I then set up in business in 2004 as Lonsdale Home Improvements doing general DIY, decorating, basic joinery and carpentry. I’ve always enjoyed working with wood and creating something out of nothing!

Getting stuck in as a Chippendale Furniture School student

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A blog by Rupert Phelps, a former telecoms consultant

This is my blog about the 15 weeks that I have been at the Chippendale International School of Furniture.

I was a Senior Technical Telecoms Consultant working for a rather large blue chip organisation in the town of Staines in south-east England; back in May 2010 I decided to pack in my exceedingly dull, sedentary, paid, existence in leafy Middlesex suburbia for a new more physical, creative, self-motivated, countryside lifestyle. Most of my friends thought I might have been going through a midlife crisis; they might have been right, but it was a proactive midlife crisis at that!

The ultimate goal is to become a self-employed furniture maker and designer. With little or no woodworking skills, the quest was set.

A Strathclyde police officer’s first impressions as a Chippendale Furniture student

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A blog by Sean McManus, furniture design student

Rapidly approaching the mid point of my course at the Chippendale School of Furniture I find myself reflecting on what has gone and, with some trepidation, to what has yet to come. To use the old cliché, it does seem like only yesterday I visited the school for the first time and was taken aback by the results achieved by the previous year’s students. Their furniture designs were on display for all to see in the great hall, open to criticism from anyone with an opinion, and the acid test awaits… ‘will it sell!’

Chippendale School of Furniture Student Wins National Award

Chippendale News, Uncategorised

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 …

Chippendale School of Furniture Student Wins National Award Read More »

Jumping around to keep warm

Chippendale News, Uncategorised

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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