background:
When asked how I got into furniture design there is no simple answer; I have always made things. What makes the practice of furniture design so compelling is the very intimate interface between object and the human body. sense of touch, sight, smell, weight, temperature, structure; how the piece touches you, all come into play to provide very real, immediate and physical feedback.
collection:
Heirloom quality furniture, hand-made modern; big, quiet, subtle and substantial.
materials:
It is the job of the designer to push the materials in the exploration of new forms. The best materials push back. It is often that point of resistance, which gives information and guidance to the designer and lends justification and meaning to form.
inspiration:
Natural things clean themselves; a rainstorm leaves the trees and grasses so very clean, but cars and buildings end up dirty, why is that? Any bug or animal can live right in the dirt and yet emerge spanking clean. When man goes out into the natural world he is virtually attacked by dirt.
challenges:
The essential challenge for any designer is finding a real reason to make more stuff. The world is already pretty full of stuff, once you have a good reason, doing good work becomes a much more straightforward proposition. These reasons may be different for each circumstance and for every project must be found anew.
what’s next:
I will continue to explore new possibilities in seating. Somewhere between the massive old wooden chairs of the past, like the Bank of England chair, which have such a dignified relationship to the human form, and the tremendous lightness brought to us by the modernists like Arne Jacobsen, there are great chairs out there waiting to be made.