furniture school
Open Weekend with ArtWave Festival 6th – 7th September 2025 | Lewes District – Our annual open weekend during ArtWave is always a busy weekendOpen hours: 9.30am – 4.30pm The entire workshop will be open to visitors, with both floors
Here at RHS we are excited to announce upcoming dates for the diary!
– New Designers, London – ArtWave, Lewes – Bespoke Guild Marks – Finalist with Heritage Crafts.
Next course: TBC. New for 2025! We’re delighted to offer a Marquetry weekend course taught by Audrey Fasquelle, a highly experienced craftsperson and recognised as a Master FurnitureMaker for her marquetry work by the Furniture Makers Company.
The flooded Fens Console Table and The Marshlands Drinks Cabinet by Elliott Butterwick explores the relationship between the North Norfolk’s tidal swells and its salt marshes.
Both of these pieces were handcrafted on our 50-week Furniture design and makers’ course.
The Marshlands Drinks Cabinet, designed and made by Elliott Butterwick whilst a student at Robinson House Studio, has been awarded the Christopher Claxton Stevens Prize by The Furniture Makers’ Company, the City of London livery company and charity for the furnishing industry.
We are delighted to be taking several of our students and their work to New Designers, London
New Designers is an annual London showcase of the UK’s most innovative emerging design talent. Since its inception 39 years ago, New Designers has provided a platform for over 3,000 graduates every year to present their visionary ideas to industry professionals and the public.
Keep up-to-date with RHS news about Taster week courses, Weekend classes and Student work here on our Instagram account.
The new 19 weeks course has been specifically designed for students who want to learn the core skills of traditional and contemporary furniture design and making. You will guided through several set projects that teach you to create furniture of exceptional standard.
Cost: £14,500.
Deposit £6,000 to secure your place.
Next courses: 11th & 12th Oct. 2025.
An ideal course for anyone who wants to learn more about finishing techniques and get some practical, hands-on experience. Cost: £295. Tutor: Marc Fish.
We are delighted announce an open weekend on Saturday 21st & Sunday 22nd September, 2024.
Open hours – 9.30am – 4.30pm.
Next courses: 24th, 25th & 26th Oct. 2025.
Learn how to make a wooden plane. This will involve skills such as band-sawing, routing, drilling, shaping with a spokeshave, sanding and finishing. A 3 day course. Cost: £400. Tutor: Theo Cook.
Next date: 3rd – 7th Nov, 2025.
If you’re looking to expand your machine woodworking skills, our 5-day hands-on wooden stool making course is for you.
£825.
Next course: 15th & 16th Nov. 2025. Ideal if you want to know more about the mark of a master craftsman – the dovetail joint! When well-executed it is the epitome of high-level work. Cost: £295.
Next course: 29th & 30th Nov. 2025.
We are delighted to have Dickie join us to offer would be woodcarvers chance to explore this ancient art form with a master of the craft.
Cost £295. Tutor: Dickie Baugh.
Next course: Date TBC.
Experience these amazing techniques and take your work to a different level! As laminating is more accurate than steam bending, it is ideal for combining sculptural work with fine cabinet making.
Cost: £295. Tutor: Marc Fish.
Next course: Date TBC.
A one day course on French polishing with shellac, run by Derek Jones, once editor of Furniture & Cabinetmaking magazine and author of French Polishing, Finishing & Restoring Using Traditional Techniques.
Cost £195.
Next courses: 2025 Dates TBC.
This course provides hands-on experience of the sophisticated techniques used in the composites industry.
Cost £480. Tutor: Theo Cook.
Next course: Day TBC July 2026
Steam bending is an ancient woodworking process which is found on every continent.
Charlie is the UK’s leading steam bending expert; his work is sold internationally and can be found in museums, private residences and commercial premises.
Cost: £240 – 1 day.
Next course: date TBA.
Learn how to make your own jigs and templates at this one-day course with senior tutor and master craftsman, Theo Cook.
The course covers making jigs by hand as well as the use of CAD programs, laser-cutter, and a CNC router. Cost: £195.00.
Next course: dates TBA.
Covering hand tools, there will be practical sessions on planing, sawing and chiseling – forming the ideal starting point for cutting and fitting accurate joints.
Cost: £150. Tutor: Theo Cook.
Next course: date TBA.
This one-day introductory course is designed to help attendees understand and apply different approaches to veneering.
£195 for one day course.
We are proud to announce the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) have credit rated robinson house studio‘s popular 50 Week Furniture Design and Makers’ course at SCQF Level 8, opening more opportunities for students wishing to study furniture design and making.
Next course: 2025 dates TBC.
This three day course takes you through completing a three-legged stool. Using through-tenoned construction (now known as “staked”construction) is a skill worth learning for any furniture maker. Three legs instead of four means the stool will never wobble, no matter what floor it’s sitting on, the mortise layout is simple, and, of course, there’s one less leg to make!
Cost: £295. Tutor: Derek Jones.
A new book by Marc Fish celebrating the last 10 years of furniture design.
Marc Fish has been making furniture for over 20 years, the release of his new book ‘a second decade of creativity’ charts the last ten years of Marc’s studio and highlights the progression in his work to date.
Next course: 2025 dates TBC. Japanese style joinery can be extremely complicated but there are occasions when simplicity and function come together to make the perfect form.
Cost: £295. Tutor: Derek Jones.
Next course: 2025 dates TBC.
The six board chest is a design that is almost as old as the concept of furniture itself and is as relevant today as it has ever been.
Cost: £295. Tutor: Derek Jones.
Next course: TBA.
This course is taught by expert maker Derek Jones. The key principles for building a cricket table are simplicity, necessity and ingenuity. Using just two types of joint it’s possible to create a robust structure from almost any species of wood that can be used to make a variety of different pieces of furniture.
Jamie Furlong did the 50 week designer maker course with us in 2021. Previously, Jamie enjoyed yachting and has been able to take his career one step closer as a boat builder now.
Luke Evans joined us in 2021 from Australia, he studied the 50 Week Furniture Design and Makers course. Here, three main pieces are designed and made giving students a good all round knowledge of the skills needed to make high-end work.
Maquette making is a useful way of planning a project. It helps the maker to see if proportions and materials work well together on a model, often very small.
Joe Robinson completed a 50 Week Furniture Design & Makers’ course.
Here you can see the three projects he completed in his time with us.
Fascinated by different landscapes, Joe has been looking at Iceland in particular and has taken inspiration from skeiðarársandur river delta. Made from valchromat and hand carved for the texture.
Robinson House Studio Workshop and surroundings tour and promotional video 2022.
Do get in touch with any of the team here at RHS
If you have any questions regarding any of the courses please contact Jo our administrator or Theo our senior tutor here:
Email: admin@marcfish.co.uk.
Or Tel: +4401273 513611.
If you’d like to speak to Marc Fish please email him here: info@marcfish.co.uk.
Crafted Conservation: John Makepeace OBE and Marc Fish
The artists introduce their practices, both deeply rooted in experimental material science. With thanks to Sarah Myerscough and her gallery.
Peter studied on the full time 50-week Furniture Making and Designing course. He says – “sessions with Marc really opened my eyes to different ways of approaching things.”
Christian Watson featured in Elle Deco, July 2021
This wonderful low table was designed and made here at the school by our 50 week student Jed. The table stands 380mm high and at its widest point is 1100mm in diameter.
Wilson Law, 50 week student at robinson house studio 2021 completed three excellent pieces of work.
We’re delighted to be back up and running not only with lockdown easing and an awful lot of risk assessments under our belts but our new premises is finished and amazing!
Tegan Foley writes “Constantly striving to transcend the barriers of art, design, sculpture and furniture, this iconic piece by Marc Fish really does stand in a class of its own.”
With access to 3D printing for prototyping and a CNC machine, I was keen to use these facilities for my first project.
We were thrilled to see ex-student Anna Dugard’s wonderful console table featured in Furniture & Cabinetmaking magazine. F&C is an industry stalwart, it focuses exclusively on fine furniture with the aim of promoting excellence in furniture making, so we are always delighted to see our students’ work showcased.
Undoubtedly a singularly gifted and knowledgeable individual, it is reassuring to know that someone like Theo Cook is instructing and inspiring the next generation of furniture makers in their craft, as Martin Pim-Keirle discovers here.
Marc’s lesson on material science was one of the best lectures I have attended, it was inspiring and gave me many new ideas for mixing materials. Felix Wells.
Theo often shares his work and passion for woodworking on YouTube and has amassed a significant following over the years. Here we share with you some of his best videos with a short introduction to each.
Marc appeared in the Financial Times on September 20th 2019. The piece covered his design ethos and ambitions prior to showing with Todd Merrill at PAD London.
In the Newhaven studio of furniture-maker Marc Fish, Claudia Barbieri discovers how the designer bends wood to his will.
Tim Evershed was recently featured as ‘One to Watch’ in a Homes and Garden magazine article during October 2017.
Why not buy your loved one a gift they will really appreciate, no more socks this Christmas!
Available as set amounts or for a specified course.
Having spent most of my working life as a draughtsman drawing fitted furniture I always knew I wanted to learn how to make furniture to the highest standard possible.