Chippendale Furniture Making School teaches the ancient skills of wood carving

An interview with Charles Oldham, fine wood carver and member of the Master Carvers’ Association.

Charles Oldham, a master wood carver, believes passionately in preserving the ancient skills he learned from an older generation of carvers; teaching woodworking students at the Chippendale International School of Furniture provides an opportunity to pass on these skills.

Charles Oldham specialises in restoration, architectural wood carving, letter cutting, carved and gilded ornaments, and gesso cutting. Charles has worked on a number of high profile restoration projects amongst them Windsor Castle, Hampton Court Palace, Spenser House and Tredegar House.

Charles Oldham, master wood carver, in the Chippendale Furniture School's purpose-built workshop.

Charles Oldham, master wood carver, in the Chippendale Furniture School's purpose-built workshop.

How did you get into wood carving?

“After going to St Albans Art College and Bath College, I served my apprenticeship in three London wood carving workshops run by master carvers. Once there I carved eighteenth century style fireplaces and picture frames. I also restored fine carved and gilded furniture and mirror frames from the auction houses and the antiques trade.

“I went on to set up my own workshop, Charles Oldham Fine Wood Carving, now in Frome, Somerset. Current clients include cabinet makers, architects, the National Trust, antique dealers, conservation firms, restorers and individuals. I work with existing designs, interpret designs and design new work. Chippendale mirror frames are one big area of work – baroque, rococo, neo classical and regency – and I’m currently moving more into sculpture as well.”

What are your favourite commissions?

“I was fortunate enough to be asked to carve some ceiling bosses for Windsor Castle.

“I’ve also carved a life sized pony for the National Trust Carriage Museum in Devon.

“More recently, Salisbury Art Centre had to cut down a yew tree. The wood was given out to different artists and cabinet makers for the ‘Yew Tree Exhibition’. I carved a ‘ewe’ from the yew based on an idea from Henry Moore’s sheep sketch book (one of my favourite sources!). The Art Centre liked the piece so much that they bought it.”

You can see photos of Charles’s beautiful life-sized Pony and Ewe from Yew on our Facebook page.

“Some of my best restoration work is in Redland Chapel, a perfect Baroque building in Bristol where I restored the Gibbons style foliage and cherubs.

“Last year Anselm Fraser [principal of the Furniture School] and I designed and carved a fantastic Gothic doorway in Dunkeld, north of Perth in Scotland.

The pony carved by Charles Oldham master carver.

The pony carved by Charles Oldham master carver.

“One of my more unusual commissions has been carving a dog’s bed for a Labradoodle called Oswald! This is really a very elegant William Kent style piece of furniture.”

What do you teach the students at the Chippendale International School of Furniture?

“This is now my fifth year. I always enjoy my two week visit in the summer term.

“The students learn about carved ‘ornament’ and where they can use it. I use 3 carving exercises to teach the students: carving foliage and a lion’s head, through to creating a mirror frame.  They learn about design drawings, carving techniques, chisels and how to sharpen carving tools.

“Each student carves with a different character. You can begin to see which direction they want to go in from the character of their work.”

What’s your impression of the Chippendale School of Furniture?

“It’s very nice to be working with people again, and there are a great range of ages and nationalities. The School of Furniture has a really refreshing attitude – it lets everyone be their own character instead of telling them to do things in a particular way.”

More information is available at Charles Oldham’s website.

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Furniture Restorer Profile

Simon Macintyre- Furniture Restorer

Simon Macintyre is a furniture restorer based in Arundel, West Sussex.  He trained with Michael Hay-Will in 1981 (in the same class as Anselm) and set up shop a quarter of a mile down the road, where he has been restoring furniture ever since.
He is also a guest tutor on our cabinet making courses and for those who read our post about the Windsor chair restoration; it was under his expert guidance that it was brought back to its former glory.

And he is clearly not just an excellent furniture restorer, because while most of our students arrive here saying they have little interest in furniture restoration, the vast majority leave saying that furniture restoration is one of their biggest interests.  One of last year’s graduates has even gone down South to work with him, so he must be doing something right!

He is a bit more modest.  He believes that furniture restoration itself is what captures people’s imagination:

“There is a sense of history and tradition that accompanies restoring furniture,” he says.  “You’re holding a piece that might be 300 years old, right in front of you, and you start wondering what the person who made it was like.  Who has owned it?  Who was the last person to polish it and restore it?”

Furniture Restoration vs Cabinet Making

He says that he understands why people might initially shy away from restoration.  Even he started out thinking he wanted to be a cabinet maker, designing furniture.  But he slowly came to realise that he had a greater aptitude for furniture restoration.  He believes that cabinet making and furniture restoration feed the soul in different ways.  “The ability to use a tool is a ‘skill’,” he muses, “whereas the ability to restore furniture is much more about having a ‘feel’.”

And so the pleasure comes not just from the sense of history and tradition, but from the nuts and bolts of revitalising antiques.  “You have to imagine what the piece looked like in the past and you try to match that picture with a reality.”  For Simon this means problem-solving and dealing with the subtle complexities of colour and patina.

For the Few, Not the Many

However, not everybody thinks the same way…  Occasionally Simon will get an antique through the door that has been restored by a cowboy for whom restoration evidently means something completely different:  “I do sometimes despair at what some people think it’s all about; trying to do furniture restoration with a pot of glue and a couple of nails is just plain wrong!”  But by and large, taking apart history and breathing new life into old furniture is clearly as much a gentle lifestyle as it is a business for this man.

The Bottom Line

And what of the cabinet making?  “While I still make the odd bit of furniture,” he says, “it’s not every day that someone walks through your door and orders a 3-piece suite.  Restoration work is much more common.”

“But it’s never dull,” he adds.  So despite the odd cold, grey, winter morning, he finds himself wanting to get up and go to work.  Because even after 27 years on the job, he still finds it interesting, challenging and deeply rewarding.

Wepham Farm Stables
Wepham
Arundel
West Sussex
BN18 9RQ
01903 883387

macintyre641@aol.com

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