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Taking a Chance on an Overseas School: Scott Grove Teaches Veneering at Chippendale School Taking a Chance on an Overseas School: Scott Grove Teaches Veneering at Chippendale School
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Furniture design school

Taking a Chance on an Overseas School: Scott Grove Teaches Veneering at Chippendale School

Scott Grove, an award-winning New York artist, sculptor and woodworker, delivered an inspiring, week long veneering course to last year’s students at the Chippendale International School of Furniture near Edinburgh. This was his first ever course at a UK furniture making school and he’s coming back to teach this year’s students. This is the blog about his visit to the furniture school.

When I was asked to teach at The Chippendale International School of Furniture in Scotland, I jumped at the chance but wasn’t sure exactly what I was getting myself into. As it turned out, neither did they. It was a mutual gamble taken by both parties that yielded a great experience and exchange of knowledge.  And the scotch and ale was pretty good too.

The Chippendale School offers a complete and diverse curriculum and brings in various experts to teach specialized skill sets. Travelling to the United Kingdom to introduce my pioneered veneering techniques was certainly an honor, but I wondered, would they be open to such innovative and unconventional practices?  Would I even be able to understand what they were saying through their Scottish brogue?

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Chippendale School Student Dreams of Boat Building

This blog is by Fergus McCoss who was a deckhand on super yachts but his long term plan is becoming a woodworker. After graduating from the Chippendale School of Furniture, he dreams of building boats in the style of 1960’s Riva Aquarama speedboats!

I started in Palma, did Mediterranean loops, Atlantic crossings and Caribbean routes.

I was working with 60-75m yachts which had crews of 13 to 23 people. The interiors were like 5 star hotels. Doing a refit in a boatyard in Germany made me want to work with my hands on the interior design and maintenance of yachts.

The Riva Aquarama Lamborghini. Chippendale School.

The Riva Aquarama Lamborghini

I was attracted to the Chippendale School by the no frills, get-on-and-do-it approach. I’m not really one for the classroom – you learn more when you make mistakes. I enjoy being really hands-on, and, having been away for 3 years, it’s great to be back in Scotland.

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The Chippendale School Adventure

A blog by Chippendale School student Ashley Petersen who loves working with wood.

Ashley was employed by an advertising agency in New York, but always had a passion for furniture and knew she had to make it a part of her life.

“I started working with an antique furniture restorer in Queens in the evenings after work and completed a short woodworking class in Brooklyn. I learned how to French polish, replace missing veneer and how to repair gilding and loved every minute of it!

“I also spent time working at a vintage furniture shop in Manhattan refinishing or adding a ‘shabby-chic’ flair to various pieces.”

Ashley had considered furniture design schools in the US, but found they were too expensive and meant taking 4 years out of the workforce. The intensive Chippendale School course only lasted 9 months and also offered the antique restoration course she was looking for.

“I was encouraged by the small class size which ensured more individual attention, and the amount of hands-on experience the program provided. I really liked that the students were of all ages and nationalities. This furniture course also provided an opportunity for a great adventure!

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Some of the Things that Make our Furniture Design Course Stand Out

Do you dream of building a rewarding career in professional furniture design and restoration? There are still some places on our furniture making and furniture restoration course starting this October 2013.

He came He saw He conquered. Chippendale School of Furniture.

Our students learn more than 80 woodworking techniques.

Our feedback suggests that our courses are that little bit different:

1. We teach you up to 80 woodworking techniques in just 9 months (other schools take 2 to 3 years to cover the same ground);
2. We lay on lectures, visiting experts, learning from your colleauges and field trips, as well as spending up to 1,400 hours doing practical benchwork on your own projects;
3. We provide all the tools you need – planes, safety gear, routers, chisels, hammers (worth at least £2,500);
4. Your fees include all the wood required to make 3 pieces of furniture, sourced and dried here from local Scottish hardwoods;

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U3A Brave Arctic Conditions to Visit Furniture School

We were delighted that our visitors from the U3A (University of the Third Age) went ahead with their visit to the Chippendale School of Furniture last Saturday despite the Arctic conditions.

U3A are self-help, self-managed lifelong learning co-operatives for older people, providing opportunities for members to share learning experiences in a wide range of interest groups and to pursue learning not for qualifications, but for fun. So a visit to see what happens here seemed to prove quite popular.

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Inspirational Lectures on Thomas Chippendale and Furniture History

David Jones & Dr Lucy Worsley discussing Thomas Chippendale at Dumfries House.

David Jones & Dr Lucy Worsley discussing Thomas Chippendale at Dumfries House.

An interview with leading furniture historian David Jones of St Andrews University, who has been delivering keynote lectures on the Life and Times of Thomas Chippendale at the Chippendale International School of Furniture for more than 12 years.

“Students at the Chippendale International School of Furniture learn about different furniture making styles, and how to take the best ideas from the past and adapt them to modern needs. Diversity and practicality are key features of the furniture design course,” says David Jones.

With a focus on Thomas Chippendale, David Jones’ furniture history talks also include a lecture on modern furniture from the 1950’s up to the present day. This takes in ‘experimental modernism’ in Italy (Fornasetti), American furniture makers (Charles and Ray Eames) and concludes with leading contemporary furniture designers like Angus Ross, based in Aberfeldy in Scotland.

“It’s the highlight of my year because everyone at the School is so eager to learn. Anselm creates a great atmosphere and there’s always lots of jollity,” says David Jones.

He explains that Thomas Chippendale had strong connections with Scotland which are still evident today. That’s why you can see some of his best commissions at Blair Castle north of Perth, at Dumfries House in south west Scotland, and at Paxton House near Berwick. See more of Dumfries House and Thomas Chippendale in this video.

Students from the Chippendale School of Furniture have opportunities to see Thomas Chippendale’s furniture first hand on inspiring field trips to many of these houses.

David Jones gives some background on Thomas Chippendale:

“He was born into a family of cabinetmakers and woodworkers in the town of Otley in Yorkshire. Thomas Chippendale’s fame spread when he published ‘The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director’ in 1754, his pioneering pattern book of furniture designs.

“His talents for cabinet making were spotted by wealthy Scotsmen, James Rannie, a shipping investor from Edinburgh, and some founders of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club in St Andrews. They helped set up the young craftsman in a three storey workshop in London’s St Martin’s Lane. The area had a thriving artistic and design community where the Rococo style flourished, and was close to St Martin’s Academy founded by William Hogarth.

“Within Chippendale’s ‘Cabinet and Upholstery Warehouse’, there were workshops for cabinet makers, upholsterers and glass workers; feather and carpet rooms; workshops for veneers and forgers; as well as stores and drying rooms. About forty craftsmen worked there.

“In the ‘Director’, Thomas Chippendale tamed the ornate Rococo style which came from France in the 1730s. With its wildly curvaceous virtuoso carving, Rococo was difficult to recreate.  Chippendale created simplified designs that ‘could be made by any capable workman’, making stylish furniture accessible to a new class of people.

“Thomas Chippendale fed the hunger for modernisation in Scotland after the Jacobite uprising in 1745. This was a period of stability in Scotland that led up to the Scottish Enlightenment. Encouraged by greater prosperity, the Scots concentrated on trading and building new houses. From 1754 to 1790, the manufacturing of Chippendale furniture was part of this rebuilding and cultural awakening, and his furniture was used to furnish many of the most stylish houses.”

David Jones, furniture history lecturer, at Dumfries House.

David Jones, furniture history lecturer, at Dumfries House.

David Jones became interested in furniture as a child, inspired by relatives in Wales who had a home full of enchanting furniture. He worked at Temple Newsam House outside Leeds in the north of England with its significant collection of Chippendale furniture.

David went on to study history and history of art at university, then worked in museums where, following his passion, he grasped the chance to look after their furniture collections. David’s opportunity to teach furniture history came up during the 1980’s when he proposed the creation of a new course on the history of furniture at St Andrews University. The rest, as they say, is history.

To learn more about Thomas Chippendale, you can watch a video of David Jones being interviewed in Dumfries House by historian Dr Lucy Worsley on BBC2’s Antiques Uncovered. David introduces one of the finest collections of Thomas Chippendale’s furniture and Anselm Fraser demonstrates how to make the legs of a Chippendale chair at the Furniture School. (David stars between 2 and 5 minutes from the start of the video.  The interview with Anselm Fraser at the School follows from 5 to 9 minutes from the start). We are grateful to Silver River Productions for allowing us to show this video. Check out the Chippendale School of Furniture YouTube Channel for this and other videos about the Furniture School.

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Chippendale International School of Furniture
Gifford
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EH41 4JA near Edinburgh
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