furniture student Archives - Chippendale School of Furniture

Kumiko and asanoha

Christian Burt’s tea cabinet, a celebration of Japanese-inspired design, also proves that design and creativity can evolve during the construction phase.

His stunning cabinet in sycamore and beech was to have stood on long beech legs to bring the cabinet up to eye level for functional use.

But in an inspired change of plan, Christian, from Portland, Oregon, has cut down the legs and, instead, will now build a tall and complementary sycamore table on which the tea cabinet will sit.

Christian’s far-flung woodworking influence is perfectly illustrated in his cabinet’s kumiko limewood front panel, perfectly set off in front of a rice paper back panel.

Kumiko is the delicate and ancient Japanese art of assembling pieces of wood without using nails, and Christian’s specific design, asanoha, is a particularly popular motif still used in architecture, fashion and graphic design.

The asanoha pattern, based on regular hexagons or an aggregate of triangles, is widely used on kimono and baby clothes, and is believed to give health and long life.

Christian came to the Chippendale school on our professional course having originally studied photography, but with no background in woodworking, and his cabinet is a reflection of innate confidence, considerable skill and a real understanding of the design process.

Before creating his tea cabinet table, Christian will first turn his hand to making a long sideboard with brass inlays.

Vicente’s journey from Mexico to the Chippendale School of Furniture

This is a furniture student blog by Vicente Ridaura-Harvey from Tampico in north-east Mexico, five hours from the US border near the Gulf of Mexico.

The photographs show the wonderful ‘throne’, one of the pieces created by Vicente at the Chippendale School of Furniture.

Vicente explains that the arms and curved back of his chair are made of sweet chestnut with striking fused glass strips and rosewood details. The legs and seat are made from olive ash. Vicente designed the glass inserts and his mother, a glass artist who is still based in Mexico, fused the pieces together in her kiln at 700 – 800 degrees centigrade.

Join Chippendale School’s buzzing international woodworking community

The Chippendale International School of Furniture only takes 20 students onto our intensive furniture courses each year. As our name suggests, the Furniture School has always been ‘international’ in nature and several students from the US and Canada join the course every year, so, rest assured, you’ll be in excellent company!

Students also come from Spain, Belgium, Russia and the Far East, as well as a good number from across the UK, making for a cosmopolitan community.

Student’s backgrounds are equally interesting and diverse: from fashion design, art, architecture, music and architecture, to property, the armed services, IT, telecoms and banking. Some students already have experience of wood working but many have none. It doesn’t matter. The uniting theme is that everyone has a love of wood.

The result is a buzzing woodworking school community where everyone has a lot of fun, despite some hard work.

Check out some of the profiles of our furniture students below to see what they thought of our furniture design course and how it has helped them shape their career.

Emily Greenberg from California
Emily joined the furniture School from California; after graduating from the Chippendale International School of Furniture, she went on to the Edinburgh College of Art.

“I decided to study at Chippendale because I was looking for a well-rounded, serious education in furniture design and making and that is exactly what I got at Chippendale.

“My education at Chippendale gave me sophisticated pieces of furniture I could proudly display in my portfolio to ensure my acceptance to Edinburgh College of Art.

“When I complete my studies my dream is to start my own design company, designing children’s furniture.

“Studying woodworking in the Scottish countryside was an incredible experience.”

Anaïs Dancet from Belgium
After completing an interior architecture degree, Anaïs wanted to be able to both design and produce furniture.

“The course covered everything that I wanted to learn. It’s really intense. You have to be committed; I mentally prepared for boot camp woodwork.”

Anaïs made an intricate architect’s cabinet and a hand carved chair while at the Chippendale School. After graduating she set up her own business www.anaisdancet.com in the Chippendale Incubation Centre and wants to deliver commissioned work.

You can see more profiles of recent students here.

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Student of the Year

Jonny Baxter came to Chippendale following a 4-year stint in timber frame construction in Northern Ireland. 10 months on and he has won the prestigious Student of the Year Award. We catch up with him a month after the end of term.

So what did he make of the course?

“It was definitely action-packed” he says. “We were taught loads of skills and techniques but what I really liked was the idea of bringing in specialist tutors for things like the gilding, carving and stained glass. In the day-to-day furniture making side of things the staff at Chippendale were really helpful and knowledgeable. But there was such a broad spectrum of stuff going on that you couldn’t expect them to be masters at every single skill. So it was great to be able to pick the brains of the visiting tutors because they work with their specialist skills everyday and can give you really relevant advice backed up with real world examples.”

And how did he feel about becoming Student of the Year 2009?

“It was really unexpected, actually. But it was a massive confidence boost and it has helped me feel ready to take on the world”

His favourite project…

“…was a brick-built lighthouse that I made at the end of second term. It was actually something that led on from one of the bench-skill sessions. It wasn’t one of my term-projects; it was just something extra I did. At the time everybody was finishing their second-term veneering projects and it was nice to step back from that and enjoy some down time. It was great fun and I built in lots of secret compartments.”

So what does the future hold?

“Well I’m starting up my own business, Jonathan Baxter Furniture. I was offered a bench at Chippendale but I decided to go for something a bit closer to Edinburgh, so I’m renting space at a workshop in Dalkeith which I found through Scottish Furniture Makers. I’m going to be doing contemporary furniture design and furniture restoration.”

You can find Jonny’s website here at www.jbaxterfurniture.com. We wish him all the best with the new business.