school history
‘robinson house studio’ was started in 2009 by Marc Fish after launching his own career in furniture making in 1996. Through Marc’s own studies, he saw a need for high-quality furniture making tuition that wasn’t being provided. Beginning with just a few students, the school has since expanded to the point where we now have three intakes a year and up to 15 students per year, as well as additional students taking our weekend and week-long furniture making classes.
We have a thorough and modern syllabus of subjects, and in addition to Marc’s position as Founder and Principal, we also are delighted to have Theo Cook acting as Vice Principal and Senior Tutor.
During his career, Marc Fish has won four Guild Mark awards and continues to design exquisite pieces that have attracted an international clientele. His work has been exhibited around the world via his gallerists.
Theo Cook has over 25 years of experience in fine furniture making and two Guild Mark awards under his belt.
You can learn more about the staff at robinson house studio here.
our mission
Our mission is to teach you to really hone your craft and your skills, with a focus on design, so you can make original, creative, and high quality pieces. Students are encouraged to mix media, push boundaries, and try new things – see some examples of student work here. Having our founder and principal at the cutting edge of high end means we are always aware of current trends, commercial challenges, modern designs, and new advances in the industry, and we can pass this information on to our students.
We want to help to get you to a point where you can start your own business, or help you put together a portfolio if you’re looking for employment within the industry, as well as provide passionate hobbyists with the next step in the craft with professional knowledge and practical experience.
weekend courses
If you have a keen interest in woodworking and furniture making and want to expand your knowledge in new areas, try one of our weekend courses.
These weekend courses give you a solid introduction to many woodworking skills in general. Inc. an intro to hand tools, woodfinishing, carbon fibre, dovetails, laminating, veneering or wood machining – these weekend classes teach you specific skills and techniques to expand your furniture making skillset.
We also regularly have guest tutors who teach other subjects over a weekend, including steam bending, French polishing, wood carving, and making boxes.
taster week
If you’re interested in doing a longer course with us and want to get a taste of what the school is like, or if you want a practical introduction to see if furniture making is for you, or if you’re a hobbyist that wants to learn to a high industry standard, try our one week taster course.
Taster week, £750.00
During the one week course, you’ll make a tray to take home and along the way learn a wide range of hand skills including blades and sharpening, hand planing, sawing, chiseling, veneers, laminating, gluing up, hand shaping, and finishing.
long courses
If you’re ready to get started on your new life as a woodworker or furniture maker, have a look at our long courses. We provide furniture making courses from 19 weeks to two years, with intakes throughout the year so you can choose the course that’s best suited to you. Our most popular course is our 50 week furniture making course, where you can really make the most of your full year with us.
The studio closes for one week in August and also a week over the Christmas period.
Our longer courses are full time, Monday to Friday, 9am until 4.30pm – though many students choose to stay later into the evening and come in on weekends. When you sign up, we’ll send you our recommended tool list, which is what we think every aspiring furniture maker should have in their toolbox and the best places to get them. The first part of your course you’ll spend entirely on hand skills, before moving into the main workshop and starting on your own projects using the machines.
