I run a small design and make studio in rural East Sussex specialising in timber based projects including furniture, timber cabins and woodcraft.

About me

I studied Architecture at Art College and spent the first part of my working life designing private houses. This involved me in all aspects of design and detailing from the building itself, through built in elements of the interior to fittings, furniture and furnishings, so I saw the whole process of making a house and, more importantly, a home.

The ‘feel’ of things is important to me. Good honest materials, carefully selected and worked by hand have a tactile quality that I think draws us in, so they make for objects and places that we develop a strong connection with.

I found that working behind a drawing board didn’t allow me to explore this connection so I spent more and more time in workshops, timber yards and other such places. This closer engagement with the making process and the nature of materials gave me a greater empathy with the crafts and materials I was working with and a clear understanding of how they should inform the design process from the beginning of a project.

This, in turn, led to a sideways step in my working life and established the hands on way in which I work today, with design, making and materials all being an equal part of the conversation from the very beginning of a commission.

How I work

The projects I’ve worked on vary in scale from door knob to house but, regardless of size, all share a common approach in the careful and considered sourcing of materials and craft.

Design and detailing
Some projects are approached entirely as ‘in-house’ commissions, starting from scratch with the development of a brief, working through design and detail to making and final installation. Others have been collaborative projects where I’ve worked closely with other designers to develop, make and install based on their initial brief.

So long as there is a common aim then I’m happy working in either way.

Making
Each project is different so a team, drawn from a wide range of skilled makers & craftsmen including woodworkers, woodturners, metalworkers, blacksmiths, leather workers, stone masons, carvers etc. is brought together to meet the requirements of the project.

Materials
Timber is central to my work, with a particular emphasis on UK grown native species but I also work with other materials, mostly natural and, again, mainly native. Materials that aren’t available from stock are sourced through a network of suppliers, many of whom are also small scale enterprises, as it’s at the smaller end of the scale that many of the more interesting and exceptional materials are found.

Examples of my work are shown on this site and include furniture, interiors and timber cabins, all of which are made to commission.

Commissioning process
Each project is different but the following sets out a typical path between inquiry and finished product:

• An initial meeting is held with the client to discuss the commission, location and other relevant details;
• The commission is confirmed and a project brief drawn up to include cost parameters and project timescales;
• The design development stage commences with the production of an initial design which is then developed to the point where the design, materials, cost and timescale can be signed off;
• The making process begins;
• Delivery or installation.

Please contact me if you’d like to talk about a potential project, however large or small. If there is an empathy between it and what I do then I will be interested and happy to discuss how I might become involved.