The studio and the furniture school have been proud to have a heavy involvement with the Evolution of Tradition Exhibition at Design Centre Chelsea Harbour. The exhibition was in collaboration with the Furniture Makers’ Company, as the show exclusively exhibited winners of the Bespoke Guild Mark, as awarded by the company. The show also featured a range of talks on furniture design and making, and both Marc Fish and our senior tutor Theo Cook both presented talks during the week.
School Founder and Principal exhibited two pieces of his newest at the exhibition, including his brand new Ethereal desk which had never been exhibited anywhere before. Also exhibited was the Relics Triptych, a range of three vessels showing different stages of erosion, created from 500 individual pieces.
We were very pleased to see graduate student Laurent Peacock exhibiting two pieces at the show, one of which he built while still studying with us on a one year course and has been awarded a Bespoke Guild Mark. Within a year of graduating from our course he has gone on to be a named maker for another Bespoke Guild Mark-winning piece, designed by Marc Fish. He has already developed a strong portfolio and exhibited his cabinet at the show alongside his award-winning desk, and we are pleased to see a graduate student progressing well in their career.
Marc Fish gave a talk on curved wooden forms and wood veneers, as the studio works heavily with veneers and are one of the world leading experts in this technique. Our senior tutor Theo Cook also gave a talk at the show, on the art of the Japanese dovetail. Theo is one of the only makers in the world skilled enough to create one of these intricate joints.
On the final day of the show we organised a school trip up to London to attend the exhibition, and they were also able to attend Theo’s talk. Somethign we find very important at our furniture school is making sure that students are well aware of contemporary furniture design and getting them involved in current art events, so we strive to organise a range of fantastic trips to various exhibitions. We are proud that we are a school run by people who are actively involved in this world.
