Furniture design school Archives - Chippendale School of Furniture

Professional, intermediate

Eion Gibbs, who graduated from our professional course in June, was also our first intermediate course student.

He first came to us on our month-long course while recovering from malaria.

He’d been working as a film cameraman on two charitable projects, the Kilimanjaro Project and Trees 4 Kilimanjaro.

Both charities are highlighting the environmental damage that is being done to Africa’s largest mountain, and the surrounding farmers who are affected.

Eion enjoyed the intermediate course so much that it inspired a change of career direction, and a new life as a professional woodworker.

His stand-out piece during his year with us was a monumental piece of furniture standing five feet tall.

“The Shape Shifter Cabinet” contained twenty-two compartments, with most of them being a different size.

Magnet

It comprised three horizontal sections, which were interchangeable, with each compartment being opened by a magnet.

It was therefore a functional and quirky piece of furniture, crafted from Oak, Sycamore, Ash, spalted Beech and Elm.

Its front was decorated in a harlequin triangle pattern fashioned from Ash and Oak. Adding to its charm, it also had secret compartments and a gilded chess set that folded into a drawer.

After graduation, most of our students take a well-earned holiday.

Not so Eion, who had already won his first commission – for an even more monumental piece.

His commission for a shepherd’s hut was for a customer in Southampton. It was to be a surprise 50th birthday present for his client’s wife.

The humble shepherd’s hut, which stands on iron wheels, was once a common sight across much of the country.

Lambing

It allowed shepherds to keep a close eye on their flocks, particularly during lambing season.

But it’s making something of a revival, because it can be put to a whole number of uses – and doesn’t usually need planning permission.

Nowadays, shepherd’s huts are used as garden rooms, spare bedrooms, reading nooks, outdoor gyms, or home offices.

Only recently, former prime minister David Cameron commissioned one to be his writing room.

Eion’s hut was completed with a bed and wood-burning stove. Other shepherd’s hut designs can have a toilet or shower.

The school has a shepherd’s hut on our campus and, underlining their flexibility, it was used last summer as a bedroom for one of our students.

This year it was used as a physiotherapy treatment room, by the girlfriend of one of our professional course students.

Eion’s Douglas Fir hut had tongue-and-groove Pine interior walls, Douglas Fir floor, six windows and double doors.

Eion has set up Belladrum Woodworking and is staying on at the school in incubation space.

These spaces, Myreside Studios, allow graduates to more easily make the transition into professional woodworking.

They have full access to the school’s equipment and, if they have a problem, they can seek help from our tutors.

It’s all part of the school’s holistic approach, giving our students the best tuition and a valuable aftercare package.

We’re delighted that Eion is staying on with us, and we wish him every success.

Note: We still have two vacancies for our professional nine-month course that starts next month.

Stribh to overcome

Some students come to us straight from school, but many leave it a few years before enrolling at the Chippendale school.

Many feel pressured to go into higher education and then into a job that they find unfulfilling.

That’s when it becomes a choice between the conventional or following their dreams.

We believe at the Chippendale school that you’re never too old, or too young, to choose fine furniture design and making.

One far-flung student on our 2018/19 professional course was Kent Turner, from Washington State in the USA.

He had been looking to make a career change into fine furniture design and making for several years.

Seattle

But for Kent, then working as a builder on an island north of Seattle, a decision finally had to be made.

He therefore came to us knowing something about working with wood, having been building timber frame houses.

But that doesn’t mean that we only take students with prior knowledge of woodworking.

In our experience, some of our best students are those who are complete novices.

What’s important is that students come to us with a thirst for knowledge and the acquisition of skills.

Our nine-month professional course is intensive and we expect students to work hard.

That’s exactly what Kent did, and proved himself to also have very real design and making skills.

Signature

For us, his signature pieces were a pair of funky and quirky chairs.

But, take away the quirkiness and they are also very comfortable.

That balance between form and function is very important in furniture design.

Because it’s all very well designing something with a visual WOW factor, but if it doesn’t perform well it’s a design fail.

Kent called his chairs ‘Stribh and ceannsaich’ which is Scottish Gaelic for ‘struggle and overcome.’

It’s what Kent had to do, in learning his new trade and making his design ideas work.

His chairs were designed around ease of disassembly, held together by Japanese joinery, dowels and wedges.

Sculpted

The feet of Kent’s chairs were made from yew, and the seats and backs from sycamore, with walnut accents.

Those accents were sculpted into one of chairs, where one side of it appeared to be splitting away.

It was a natural fault in the wood and Kent’s solution was to ‘stitch’ the chair back together with walnut strips.

The clever design flourish was to place the walnut strips on different places on each side of the chair, giving the impression of crude sewing.

Kent wanted to put a little of Scotland into his chairs, hence the stribh and ceannsaich name.

But it’s also a reflection of the sheer hard work that went into their creation.

For example, sanding the feet alone took six-and-a-half hours of toil.

However, Kent struggled and eventually overcame.

We wish him every success in his new career.

Paddling to an island

Jacob Corradi from Banbury in Oxfordshire came on our professional course from a previous career as a birch canoe and log cabin builder.

He therefore had a grounding in woodwork, although boat building and fine furniture making require very different skills.

Jacob’s first project was an olive ash writing desk, with six curved legs and a solid oak top with a live edge.

It had two drawers and a cabinet section made from ammonia fumed oak. A neat design flourish was that the desk’s legs appeared to rise up from the desktop.

The desk’s two drawers and cabinet were finished with steel handles.

It was a bold and ambitious project, accomplished with style and confidence. It definitely possessed a real “wow” factor.

Underlining his skill and craftsmanship, Jacob sold his desk at our graduate exhibition in Edinburgh.

You can see a fly-through video of the exhibition here.

Jacob also brought that sense of drama to his monumental ebonised kitchen island in solid oak.

It was a statement piece that was also entirely functional. It had large drawers, ample interior storage space, and a slate on the top for hot plates.

Jacob is now going to work with David Hall, another of our professional course graduating students.

They’e setting up The Whisky Barrel Furniture Company.

The plan is to work in partnership to design and make high-end furniture made with, or incorporating, wood from whisky barrels.

The intention is to make pieces that will be of interest to, for example, distillery visitor centres and whisky bars.

It’s a bold and ambitious idea, but one with enormous potential for Scottish buyers, or for anyone wanting to own a piece of Scotland.

Top honours from furniture school

A student from Russia has won top honours at the Chippendale International School of Furniture, for the first time in the school’s 31-year history.

Iana Molotok

Iana Molotok from St Petersburg won Student of the Year at the prestigious school, against competition from other students from the UK, Canada, the USA, Ireland, France, Germany, Australia and New Zealand.

Among her portfolio was a wych elm chair with echoes of a Möbius strip in its beautifully-shaped design, and a coffee table in yew and sycamore, with an intermittent stream of resin across the top, creating the effect of a meandering river.

A former financial controller, Iana is returning to St Petersburg to set up Credenza Studio , her own furniture business.

Best portfolio

Best Portfolio went to Mike Whittall, from Aberdeenshire, for a portfolio that included a curvy dressing table and stool made from sycamore and yew; an exceptionally well-proportioned coffee table with a shaped ash top and elm legs; and an elm desk with generous flowing curves and a design borrowed from the Ottoman Empire.

Mike, a former finance and tax advisor, is setting up Ochre & Wood, his own furniture making and restoration business, from his hometown in Aberdeenshire.

He will be working mainly to commission sourcing wood, as far as possible, from local sawmills.

Design student

Design Student of the Year was awarded to Anne-Lise Maire from Stasbourg in France for a portfolio that included a beautifully-crafted yew and elm writer’s desk. Her second project was a wonderfully-eccentric long-legged music box with and elm cabriole legs.

Anne-Lise

Anne-Lise, who now lives in Edinburgh, has set up Gild Ma Frog Furniture to produce bespoke furniture and create her own range of modern and sophisticated gilded cabinets.

Students’ choice

Adam Stone from Perth in Scotland won Students’ Choice for a highly-inventive oak coffee table that opens from 120cm to 200cm long to become a dining table large enough to accommodate ten people.

The chairs, which he has also designed, can be stored inside the table – making it a practical and attractive solution for any home where space is at a premium. The internal mechanism was also made from oak, although the ingenious table can be made to order in a variety of materials.

Adam’s table

Adam is setting up Adam Stone Furniture in Perth.

Professor Richard Demarco Prize

Lastly, Graham Clark from Fife was awarded the Professor Richard Demarco Prize 2016, an award that recognises particular craftsmanship and artistic merit. In 2011, Graham was knocked off his motorbike by a hit-and-run driver, sustaining both head and other severe physical injuries, and had to relearn how to read and write.

The main piece of furniture he made during the year was a folding double cabinet made from spalted beech, oak and yew – and which is to be given to his youngest daughter Madison (6).

Each year the award-winning Chippendale International School of Furniture takes students from around the world for immersive 30-week courses. The school also runs one-week “taster” courses throughout the year.

Anselm Fraser, the school’s principal, said that “this year’s graduates have all shown exceptional skill and craftsmanship, and it was very difficult to choose winners.

“Our course is designed to give students the very best training in furniture design, making and restoration and, with their proven talent, give them the building blocks for future success,” he said.

How to set up a bespoke furniture design business

Garry Macfarlane, originally from south-west Scotland, founded Freckle Furniture when he graduated from the Chippendale International School of Furniture in East Lothian outside Edinburgh. His fledgling bespoke furniture design business moved to new expanded premises nearby at Fenton Barns after spending two years in the Chippendale Incubator workshops adjoining the furniture design school.

Since 1985, the Chippendale International School of Furniture has been running one of the UK’s leading intensive furniture design and furniture restoration courses. Many of the furniture school’s graduates take advantage of the low costs and support provided by the Chippendale Incubator Workshops for a year or more.

Turkey Shed to Workshop

A cabinet making entrepreneur, Garry Macfarlane, describes his new furniture design workshop: “It was originally a turkey shed for the Fenton Barns turkey farm. It then became a blacksmith’s workshop. When we moved in it was just a big space but we could see the potential. It was a bit of a leap of faith but it has been worth all the effort.”

Former turkey shed transformed into a furniture making workshop with separate machine rooms

Working with a fellow Chippendale graduate to create the workshop and share the costs, Garry has created extensive professional facilities including a fully fitted machine room, sanding room and kitchen, as well as a large workshop.

Getting the Furniture Business Started

Garry continues with his story: “Starting out was very tough and the first two years were a struggle. But all the hard work is starting to pay off and I am now incredibly busy which meant that I had to move to bigger premises. I’ve now completed two kitchens in London, a smaller job in Chelsea and a full kitchen near Clapham.

“The latter commission, which came through a Scottish connection, was for a Victorian terraced house with a large, open plan kitchen extension out the back. Working with the architect and the customer we came up with a great design solution. The kitchen was made from solid Scottish oak and the doors and framework painted with Farrow and Ball colours. The finished result looked stunning and the customer was very pleased.”

Varied Commissions – Bookcases, Desks… and a Human Foot!

“In Edinburgh I’ve made lots of bookcases and desks, mostly in oak which is popular. People like commissioning TV Cabinets too. I’ve also been asked to do some more unusual things such as display stands for mobile phones in an app developer’s office.

“I made a model of a foot for the BBC programme ‘Dissected, the Incredible Human Foot’ on BBC4. The programme was pretty gory though – I had to turn it off!”

“At the moment I’m working on a pedestal style desk in American black walnut with burr walnut and rosewood detailing. It is for another Scottish connection in London. Then I’ll be starting on a kitchen table for someone in the Borders using Sycamore.”

Early Challenges – Learning Clients’ Needs

Setting up a new business brings many challenges, not least learning the needs and demands of customers: “Some clients know exactly what they want; others need taken through the commissioning process step by step,” say Garry.

“I’ve got more confident with pricing, costs and timings over the last 3 or 4 years. With repetition and experience, I’m doing the work a lot quicker. I’ve also invested in good quality machines which allow me to produce things quickly and accurately. Everything in here is handmade though, nothing is computer controlled.”

Marketing as Well as Woodwork

Marketing is of course a very important area for any new business: “I work hard on my marketing. I get new commissions from a range of sources including the internet and repeat business, but more and more is by word-of-mouth. Generating the work was difficult initially but now I’ve got so much that I’m thinking of taking someone on to help me – I’ve got several months of work in the pipeline. Hopefully I can get in to a position of having 2 or 3 people in the workshop with me.”

All this is a far cry from Garry’s previous job before he went to the Chippendale Furniture School: “Previously I worked for Ryden, the Chartered Surveyors, and was sitting behind a desk all day in Glasgow. I was in commercial property investment but that was hit hard by the recession and I moved into property management when the market dried up. It just wasn’t really for me and I wanted to do something different.

“Making bespoke furniture is much more rewarding, more creative and there’s less paper pushing. I don’t clock watch anymore because I’m enjoying my work. I’m my own boss and I can manage my own time. I’ve no regrets about the move even though it hasn’t always been easy.

“My advice to other furniture making start-ups is:

1.   Be prepared not to earn any money for a while.
2.   Work hard on the marketing side. It takes a while to pull in the work and service it.
3.   You can make money in the first couple of years but living off it is tough. You’re too slow and you’re still learning so much.

Never Stop Learning

“The Chippendale School of Furniture course was a really good introduction to all aspects of furniture design and making, but the journey continued after I left. There’s a cliché that you never stop learning but in woodwork it is certainly true.”

Freckle Furniture designs and makes hand crafted, bespoke furniture and kitchens to commission with exceptional design, enduring craftsmanship and superior quality. Garry’s ambition is to make commissioning exciting and engaging, and he encourages customers to visit the workshop to see their bespoke furniture being made.

Freckle Furniture’s work has recently been acknowledged by renowned Danish design company Bo Concept as one of their ‘Ones to Watch’ awards for 2014.

More information is available from the Freckle Furniture website.

Sublime Vineyard Inspires Furniture Design Talent

Anthony Glynn has just headed home to Bath from the Chippendale International School of Furniture near Edinburgh. He was highly commended for his work at one of Europe’s premier furniture design and restoration schools, and now plans to start up his own bespoke furniture business. This is his Chippendale Experience.

“I had a 20 year career in the IT industry, followed by an extended gap year that has lasted almost 10 years. During that time I’ve built up and sold a successful restaurant and pub business, travelled around the world, run a ski chalet in the French Alps and been a chef and butler at a stately home in the New Forest.

New Zealand’s inspiring Waitaki Valley

“It was while doing voluntary work at the Sublime Vineyard in the inspirational setting of New Zealand’s Waitaki Valley that I got hooked by the woodworking bug. I was helping to recycle old French oak barrels into rustic furniture. They had previously been used for Pinot Noir wine making. The feeling of satisfaction of making something useful from a beautiful material was the seed for an idea that when I returned to the UK I would learn to make furniture professionally. It was this decision that ultimately led me to the Chippendale School.

Sunrise at the Chippendale School of Furniture near Edinburgh in Scotland

Inspiration from Scotland: sunrise at the Chippendale School near Edinburgh

“I found the Chippendale School by searching on the internet. The syllabus looked very broad and the vast amount of hands-on bench time really appealed to me. By chance I was visiting Edinburgh with my wife as she was researching her ancestry, so I took time out to visit the school. I met Anselm and was so impressed by the standard and quality of the furniture making and the idyllic setting of the school, that I brought forward my plans to undertake a furniture making course by a year and submitted my application to Chippendale immediately.

“Having now completed the course, the school has exceeded my expectations about how much I could learn. Looking back over the last nine months, you can see that we’ve crammed a lot in.

“For me, the highlights have been the many ancillary crafts and skills you learn at the furniture school: carving, gilding, marquetry, boulle work, glass skills, carving, and learning about veneering with Scott Grove, one of the visiting experts.

“Of course, the resident tutors have also been a vitally important factor in the learning experience for me personally. They’re extremely knowledgeable and phenomenally patient – being slightly forgetful, I must have asked Graham the same question fifty times! The student-to-pupil ratio was very good, and you soon get to know which tutor is best to go to for help in particular areas.

“From a standing start, in just nine months I’ve gained the confidence to know that I can make furniture on a successful commercial basis; the Chippendale course not only taught me how to make furniture, but just as importantly, how to go about setting up a commercially viable business model.

Anthony’s Retro Danish cabinet made in sweet chestnut

“I’m particularly proud of my final term project piece; a Retro Danish-style cabinet made in sweet chestnut with a striking rosewood veneered front, and fumed sweet chestnut detailing. I inlaid veneer stripes into the rectilinear legs and, together with the fumed sweet chestnut stripes in the cabinet, I’m thinking of developing this as my signature style. I plan to translate this signature into various other forms, including tables, desks, dressing tables and bedside cabinets.

Anthony’s Louboutin inspired stiletto table

“I was delighted to sell the cabinet at the end-of-course exhibition, along with my Louboutin-inspired stiletto table. I sold the stiletto table to a local art collector, and it was wonderful to see it on display in her home. You get a real confidence boost when someone buys a piece of your furniture!

“Now back in the ‘real world’, I don’t want to lose the momentum; I’m looking to rent workshop space and setup my own business in the Bath area. The money that I made from selling my pieces of furniture at the end of course exhibition is a great kick start for my new business; it will cover the rent for a year, and allow me to invest in some of the equipment that I need to make furniture again.

Anthony Glynn with Ali Wilson in Windsor Chair made at Chippendale School

Anthony Glynn with Ali Wilson seated in a Windsor Chair made by Ali, Anthony and Mark Oram

“As a footnote, at some point in the future I would love to return to the Sublime Vineyard in New Zealand and make a special piece of furniture for the vineyard owners Steve and Fenella, as a thank you for being the inspiration for what I know is going to be an incredibly satisfying second career for me.”

You can watch a short video in which Anthony Glynn talks about his pieces of furniture.

You can also read Anthony’s blog on his stay at Sublime Vineyard.

Anthony James Glynn Bespoke Furniture is taking on bespoke commissions for clients in the Bath area for new furniture and restoration projects. You can visit Anthony’s website.