Furniture Restoration Course at the Chippendale School

Chippendale Furniture student launches business in Chippendale Incubator

David Lonsdale with the ipod stand and desk he made at Chippendale Furniture School

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!

What were the highlights of your 10 month furniture design course?

I enjoyed being able to work with wood other than pine and MDF! Other highlights were being able to experiment with my own designs and ideas, and having the opportunity to express myself through my designs.
It was interesting having a mix of nationalities and cultures at the School, and seeing how it influences their style and designs.
Which pieces of furniture did you create while you were at the Chippendale School of Furniture?
My first term ‘solid wood’ piece was an olive ash writing bureau with a concealed chair and some secret compartments. This was a more traditional piece which i originally made for myself but actually ended up selling at the School exhibition.
My second term ‘veneer’ piece was an i-pod shelving unit which we now just refer to as ‘the pods’. I wanted to make a modern piece with a funky vibe to it yet still be functional; it is all wired up as an i-pod docking station. You could call this modern art!
Please tell us about the business you have now set up: what are your objectives for the business?
Since finishing the course I have moved up to Scotland with my wife and children and have set up as LR Custom Furniture. I am gradually building a reputable business. I have attended plenty of craft fairs to market the business, products and bespoke furniture making service, and this has proved quite successful.
My aim is to build up the business with a solid reputation for unique, functional and beautiful furniture, kitchens and gifts.
Why did you choose to base yourself in one of the incubator units at the School?
Having not lived in Scotland before and, as I’d moved the family up, it seemed the most sensible option at the time. I wanted to have a solid base to build up my business but still have access to the School for advice and help if needed.

The remarkable iPod stand looks like a piece of modern art!

Could you please describe some of your recent commissions?
Previous commissions have been two oak bookcases. These were built to fit into difficult spaces that no ‘off the shelf’ product suited. Another commission was a modern occasional chair made from sycamore and upholstered by me. This was made for a very lucky lady as her Christmas present!
My most recent commission is a walnut chaise longue. It was made to my customer’s specification but I still managed to put a bit of my own design into it by suggesting storage compartments under the seats and putting it on castors to make it more versatile.

Getting stuck in as a Chippendale Furniture School student

Furniture student, Rupert Phelps', versatile sideboard

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.

The Friday before the start date, I handed over my laptop, mobile phone and security pass. I moved up to Gifford on the Saturday, drank tea on Sunday and started the course on Monday.

The opening lecture was a safety one which frankly I don’t think I’ll forget for a while. Anselm was showing us how to wrap up severed digits in a cool box, and how to get to the hospital in the vain hope that they could be sewn back on. Hmm, okay… what had I signed up to!

It was then straight into chiselling, sawing, planing a box to house a chisel sharpening stone and, once completed, we had to start designing our first term project. This was on the first day, it was mad, no messing, just get stuck in.

The First Term

<>The first 10 weeks involved getting used to hanging out with 16 new fellow students from all walks of life and ages (from 18 to 54), and folks from abroad (America, Belgium, Canada, Ireland, Germany via South Africa, England and, of course, Scotland). You also had to get used to the 5 lecturers and tutors, who all had alternative problem solving techniques. This is where you ask a question and you can get 5 alternative answers – at first you take them all as gospel but then find out you will have to choose the best one from the list. This is something you quickly get used to and, if the first method does not work, then the second or third just might! There are a million ways to cut a plank – we’ve yet to skin a cat though!

The other important thing is that you learn to get used to the large, scary machinery. Most of these machines have big green and red buttons. Before pressing the green button, you have to refer back to lesson one on day one – treat these tools with good care and attention and they will be kind to you. You get to know exactly where the red button is too!

Skills acquired in the first term included general woodwork joints including the iconic dovetail joint, strengthening keys, block building in the form of a giant hoola hoop, barley twist, upholstery, shaker box, tree identification, wood identification, tool of the day. You also get to start constructing your apprentice box which is improved and added to throughout the course.

The highlight for me, in the first term, was completing my first ever piece of furniture. A lounge sideboard which can house a lamp, a tv, magazines, family photos, pet photos, etc. The sideboard has yet to have a finish and polish applied (all covered in the second term). This is where you really learn furniture making and, interestingly, furniture design, all from working with wood and applying lots of trial and error.

The Second Term

Well we’re now 6 weeks into the second term. Again, another accelerated term of learning. This has included so far veneering with exotic woods, working with bendy plywood to create fun looking shapes, French polishing and finishes, boulle work, oyster work, marquetry, parquetry and continuation of tool of the day and tree identification. We have also been on a visit to Glasgow where we had a private view of the Burrell Collection furniture vault, Glasgow School of Art (designed by Rennie Mackintosh) and an exhibition of John Makepeace’s furniture.

We started our second furniture project which is a veneered piece. I’ve decided to build a desk using rosewood veneer and bendy plywood. There will be a whole host of issues to combat along with knowing that you will need to perform a number of corrections later in the construction process due to unforeseen circumstances – again, all good learning en route to becoming that furniture designer and maker.

Throughout the two terms we have also had morning lectures from Anselm on furniture history, health and safety, design and business techniques. These are a perfect length, a maximum of 30 minutes, just enough time to soak up various details to think about in the world of furniture making.

<>We also perform student stand ups, which involve a student discussing their project and possible issues that you might come up against. This allows everybody to scrutinise and give suggestions on design and construction solutions in an open forum.

Other highlights have included lunch around the nice warm stove, especially when it’s been snowing buckets, with friendly banter and laughter, and ‘Wednesday homemade soup day’. The local Goblin Ha’ pub is a popular venue and you get to know the locals very quickly indeed.

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

Sean works on his grandfather clock at the Chippendale School of furniture

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!’

With a head full of 1001 thoughts, I signed up and turned up first in the car park that Monday morning having driven the 54 miles to the School from home. By the end of the first week I realised the daily commute of 108 miles, which was taking over 2 hours, was not going to work. Isobel to the rescue! I, along with another student (Quentin), was to move in with a second student (Lee) and her partner from Monday to Friday, saving the 2 plus hours of daily travelling and allowing me to work on late most evenings.

Having come from a traditional background of a 4 year apprenticeship, where learning came through repetition, the learning environment at the School is quite different. You are given your head, encouraged to try new things, often resulting in learning through making mistakes. A great deal of discussion takes place between students and staff as well as between students themselves, igniting the thought process from which new ideas evolve into realisation (thanks for the tambal idea, Quentin!).

This course is in my opinion geared towards those who intend starting in business on completion, which is my intention. The basics of costing a job, and lists of suppliers for all things required to start and run a business is a godsend, without which much time would be spent attending business start up courses.

Giving more thought to what I said at the start I have changed my mind; I am now looking to what is still to come, not with trepidation, but with anticipation. Bring on the second half!

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.

“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.

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.

The furniture design process: 10 steps to success

The spring term at the Chippendale International School of Furniture started with a design theme. Design is the very essence of a good furniture school and is taught throughout the course from many different angles, starting right from the very first day.

Emily Norman and her Design Award Winning desk in 2009

Anselm Fraser, the school’s principal, says:
“Our students learn how to conceptualise their designs using line drawings and perspective. Being able to draw furniture designs accurately and well is essential for furniture craftsmen. It gives you the knowledge you need to make the piece. Our students need to learn to draw furniture in different ways.
“Drawing a piece’s design plays a key role in the decision process between you, the maker, and your client. By seeing and agreeing to the final design, you know that the client will be delighted with the furniture on delivery.”

In order to develop the design for a piece of furniture, a student needs to answer a series of questions in an organized way. Design must follow a systematic process. The following is an example of one approach to design that is covered; it uses the ten step conceptual design approach to demonstrate how a desk is designed – you can also see some slides which illustrate this process here:
Step 1: Rough in carcase proportions – you draw the rough proportions using perspective to work out the depth, width and height of the desk.
Step 2: Block in spatial relationships – you decide the size of major shapes such as the opening for a chair.
Step 3: Assign overall dimensions – You work out the overall dimensions, like the width of drawers on the left and right sides of the desk.
Step 4: Select design form – you decide whether the desk is on a plinth, or floor based, and what height it should be.

A desk created by a Chippendale student

Step 5: Configure spaces – you decide the depth of the drawers on the left and right, possibly with the larger drawers at the bottom and smaller ones at the top.
Step 6: Choose the construction method – you choose the materials, wood (solid or veneers), handles and whether there should be decorative panels on the sides.
Step 7: Assign component relationships – you work out the thickness of the top and decorative facings.
Step 8: Design details and embellishments – you consider the added details and the optional extras, depending upon what the client is willing to pay for.
Step 9: Colour and finish – you confirm the planned colour, finish and type of wood.
Step 10: Select complementing hardware – you confirm handles and other chosen hardware.

Photo captions
These photos show examples of designs produced by two of the students in their first term using the 10 step conceptual design approach.