Furniture Designers & Makers
Matthew Burt
After graduating with an honours degree in Zoology, Matthew trained at Rycotewood College and then as an apprentice to Richard Fyson of Kencot, Oxfordshire. Steeped in the historical resonance of the Arts and Crafts philosophy and manifestations, Kencot was just two villages away from Kelmscott, the home of William Morris, a principal founder of the movement.
A bike-ride away was the Cotswold village of Sapperton where Ernest and Sidney Barnsley and Ernest Gimson formed the Cotswold Group of Craftsmen.
Matthew has taken their baton, dipped it in modernism and sustainable design values and run with it into the 21st century.
Matthew is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and of the Society of Designer Craftsmen. In 2016 Matthew’s Pyramidalised Dresser was awarded the Claxton Stevens Prize, given to the best of all the pieces awarded a Bespoke Guild Mark during the previous year.
Twitter: @Matthew_burt_UK
Huw Edwards-Jones
Huw has built up a strong reputation, for making unique masterpieces.
Huw's work is made without compromise always going the extra mile, with integrity and proportion paramount, to the finite masterpiece. Always using the finest and often rare & beautiful timbers, with 40 years of expertise behind him.
A distinguished maker, having received accolades from all quarters for his outstanding work. He is a holder of several coveted Bespoke Guild Marks, awarded by The Furniture Makers’ Company for pieces of outstanding quality and original design.
Huw’s clients include, Royalty, Yehudi Menuhin school, lyricist Charles Hart, amongst many other prestigious clients.
Several of Huw’s pieces have been featured in major exhibitions including 'Celebration of excellence’ as well as several renowned features in books, journals & TV appearances, including Channel 4 Four rooms, with the Spectacular Spitfire table.’
www.huwedwardsjones-bespoke.com
Halstock
Halstock prides itself on the personal relationship with clients. The pieces they create often are gifts from a husband to his wife, a birthday present for a family member or a commemorative piece. This is where Halstock’s Luke Wycherley and Peter Mellum find their inspiration.
Luke and Peter create handcrafted pieces of the highest quality. Watch winders, humidors, jewellery boxes and shot boxes to be given as gifts, or just to be purchased for their incredible beauty. Halstock work very closely with their clients to create something deeply personal.
Twitter: @halstockengland
Instagram: Halstockcabinetmakers
Daniel Lacey
Now based back in the Scottish Borders, Daniel regularly continues to work for clients in the south east of England and elsewhere.
His training at Parnham – by some of the very best, with some of the best – ensures that demand for his work – whether through commission or exhibition pieces – is constant.
Following several prestigious bespoke guild marks from The Furniture Makers’ Company, Daniel was chosen for the David Savage book ‘Furniture with Soul’ as one of the 10 young best up and coming makers in the world. Owners of his pieces include preeminent collectors of art in the USA, and members of the Royal Household of Brunei.
Wherever possible he uses local indigenous timbers – often using his own mobile sawmill to provide a complete service from tree to finished piece.
www.daniellacey.com
Facebook: DanielLaceyDesignFurniture
Sarah Kay
Sarah Kay has been designing and making things in wood since studying furniture craftsmanship at Parnham College in Dorset. In 1996 she started out from shared workshop space in Hackney, East London.
Today her work covers a broad spectrum from bespoke designs for private clients and public art commissions, to design consultancy for some of the UK’s most respected retailers of contemporary furniture such as SCP, Heal’s and Benchmark Furniture.
Notable commissions include furniture and interior design collaborations with award winning Cowley Manor Hotel in the Cotswolds, a public art commission for the Geffrye Museum in Shoreditch and also for the design of two sets of very large oak doors for a new building in St James’ Street, London, subsequently shortlisted in the Wood Awards 2016.
In 2011 she was awarded the Claxton Stevens Prize for her Oasby chair. She has also received several Guild Marks and Design Guild Marks awarded by The Furniture Makers’ Company.
Twitter: @sarahkay_1
John Makepeace
John Makepeace first saw fine furniture being made when he was 11, and then he visited the great cabinet makers in Copenhagen as a teenager. Early professional recognition led to his work as a design consultant to the all India Handicraft Board, a founding member of the Crafts Council in the UK and a Trustee of the V&A, London.
In 1976 he bought Parnham House, Dorset and set up a college alongside, but separately from, his own furniture studios. Following the sale of Parnham in 2001, John Makepeace purchased Farrs, a listed house in Beaminster, where he now lives, has his design studio and gallery.
John was awarded an OBE in 1988 for services to furniture design and in 2002 received the American Furniture Society's Award of Distinction.
John has received Lifetime Achievement Awards from both the American Furniture Society (2004) and the Furniture Makers Company (2010).
He is an Honorary Fellow of the Arts University Bournemouth and of Hereford College of Arts.
In 2016 John was nominated by The Furniture Makers’ Company for the Prince Philip Designers Prize and was awarded the prize for his contribution to design.
www.johnmakepeacefurniture.com
James Ryan
James Ryan is the designer at the historic Edward Barnsley Workshop in Petersfield, Hampshire.
The workshop has a long history of making bespoke furniture of superlative quality. James joined the workshop in 1992 as an apprentice furniture maker. This apprenticeship informed and developed his ability to make furniture using wood and sound construction.
It is this innate understanding of materials and processes that forms a solid foundation to develop his sound and enduring designs.
In 2005, James also began collaborating with Ercol and over successive years created three ranges for them which are still popular in 2013: Artisan and Mantua dining and cabinet ranges and the Savona bedroom range.
James is a Liveryman of The Furniture Makers’ Company and chaired the Bespoke Guild Mark Committee from 2012 to 2015.
Twitter: @barnsleywksp
Instagram: barnsley_workshop
Facebook: Edward-Barnsley-Workshop
Simon Thomas Pirie
A designer and an accomplished furniture maker, Simon Pirie originally trained as a sculptor but then found his real niche when he enrolled at Hooke Park College, part of John Makepeace's Parnham Trust.
It was at this experimental college in the woods where he developed his making and design skills, but also a deep understanding of forestry and environmental issues. He is a visiting design lecturer at further and higher education levels and has sat on the boards of Walford Mill Crafts and Dorset Visual Arts / Dorset Art Weeks, of which he is currently chairman.
Stephen Skolnik
Stephen Skolnik trained in cabinet-making first at Rycotewood College, in Oxfordshire, and later at Rosewood College, in Canada, as well as studying under the renowned master-maker David Charlesworth in north Devon.
His work has gained him entry into international collections and some of his pieces have featured in Bespoke, the source book of 190 leading furniture-makers put together by Betty Norbury and the How to Spend It magazine of the Financial Times.
Stephen is a great supporter of young talent and sponsors an annual prize that is awarded to university students who show original thinking and commitment to their studies.
Ian Spencer & Cairn Young
Set up in 2010, Yard Sale Project has been growing fast in reputation and portfolio. Yard Sale Project is Ian Spencer and Cairn Young, and the work they design and produce together is labelled as made by Yard Sale Project.
Together they create one-off and small batch pieces of furniture that combine the unique design skills of Young with the making talents of Spencer. All Yard Sale Project items are made by them in their workshop and studio in South London, aiming to bring together the ‘cool’ of the world of design with the obsessive applied skills of handmade one-offs.
Yard Sale Project’s work has been sold in exhibitions all over the world, including Art Miami, Design Basel, PAD Paris and Gallery Seoul 12. The Museum of Art and Design, New York included Roccapina V in their 2013 show: Against The Grain.
Waters and Acland
Waters and Acland Furniture Workshop and Fine Furniture School is the collaboration of Oliver Waters and Will Acland.
The company’s portfolio encompasses a wide variety of sophisticated, elegant and creative solutions designed to reflect the style of a particular building, living space or individual.
Every piece is unique, designed and made without compromise by Oliver, Will and their award winning team of master craftsman.
Waters and Acland’s clients include CEOs, leading interior designers, international companies and numerous individuals in search of the very best furniture made today; furniture designed and made to endure, to be cherished by its owner and by generations to come.
Twitter: @watersandacland
Waywood
Waywood is a small team which has been designing and making pieces of furniture to commission since 1986.
Waywood favours simplicity of design and work in sympathy with the wood employing its natural warmth and feel.
The sensitivity and care with which the team make every piece, from the most modest item to the largest project is aimed at achieving an unlaboured excellence that will last hundreds of years.
Senior designer and craftsman at Waywood, Clive Brookes oversees all elements of the work produced, and takes major responsibility for project management.
He joined Waywood in 1990 after completing an apprenticeship in a respected workshop in High Wycombe followed by an HND in Fine Craft at Buckinghamshire College.
Twitter: @WaywoodBespoke
Edward Wild
Edward is continuing in the tradition of English fine furniture making, crafting unique handmade furniture from rare and stunning woods.
His work combines classical proportion and design with skilled craftsmanship, creating a clean contemporary style - from intricate jewellery and cufflink boxes to side tables and display cabinets.
Each piece is designed and crafted by hand in Edwards Devon workshop, including bespoke commissions, alongside a range of limited edition pieces. Edward is a member of the Devon Guild of Craftsmen, and was awarded the prestigious Wesley-Barrell Craft Award for Furniture 2014.
His work is being recognised both in the UK and internationally.
He made his first pieces in his early teens and now uses this knowledge and experience of timber and trees when designing and making new pieces of furniture.
Toby Winteringham
From a barn on the outskirts of King's Lynn in Norfolk, Toby Winteringham designs and create spieces of beautiful furniture that are in demand from all over the country.
Toby trained at London's Royal College of Art and set up his workshop in King's Lynn. After several years his work was accepted onto the Crafts Council's index of selected makers. He has exhibited widely and shown work in New York, Milan, Düsseldorf, Munich and Dubai.
He holds three Bespoke Guild Mark Certificates awarded by The Furniture Makers’ Company.
Toby has served on Crafts Council Committees and is a member of the Suffolk Crafts Society, Fellow of the Society of Designer Craftsmen and Chairman of the Norfolk Furniture Makers Association.
His clients include: Corporation of London; Department of Culture Media & Sports; Foreign & Commonwealth Office; Barbican Centre; Welcome Trust; Benfield Group; FA Premiership; Rihga Royal Hotel; County and Borough Councils; museums; design groups; interiors designers and private commissions.