Edward Teasdale
Ed Teasdale appeared on the UK craft scene in the 1980’s at a time when ”creative salvage”, “recycling”, and wider environmental issues were having a strong influence on design theory and practice. His forms and construction make common reference to a rationale of both formality and utility while the individuality of each piece comes from interplay of scale, proportion and sculptural detail. In contrast to his pared down and refined approach to design, the wood selected; processes used; and the finishes created do not aim for the perfectly controlled appearance of machine production but accentuate much of the rawness and weathering of the reclaimed natural material used.

Teasdale received a National Diploma in Design (Furniture/Interior) in 1965 from Newcastle-upon-Tyne College of Art and a Master of Arts (Art and Design Education) from Manchester Polytechnic in 1984

http://www.edwardteasdale.co.uk/

Jim Partridge & Liz Walmsley
Jim Partridge and Liz Walmsley have worked together designing and making furniture and other functional woodwork for the last 22 years. The scope of their work ranges from the small and domestic to monumental outdoor pieces. By the time the partnership began Jim had already established a reputation for his vessels and small scale furniture. Initially they worked on outdoor projects, building public seats, footbridges, and shelters. They have always said that their intention was to make “work with a strong but quiet presence in the landscape”. This statement remains true, even though in recent years they have broadened that landscape to include built environments, projects include an altar for Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford, seats for Compton Verney Art Gallery, Hereford Cathedral Close and RHS Wisley, furniture for Ruthin Crafts Centre and many private commissions.

Their studio furniture, much of which is carved from blocks of green oak, often scorched and polished to a lustrous black finish, is in public collections across the world, including the V&A in London and Manchester Art Gallery. The work has twice been shortlisted for the Jerwood Furniture prize. More recent projects that include a bridge in North Wales, Ridgeons seat in CB1 Cambridge, the Butterworth seat at Warwick University and the Carving Out Space exhibition at Ruthin Craft Centre.

http://www.jplw.co.uk/Welcome.html

Gareth Neal
We are a progressive and innovative East London-based design studio. Our conceptual work incorporates digital and traditional fabrication techniques which unite harmoniously in uniquely crafted pieces.

“There are furniture makers who are great craftspeople, and there are those who are great designers. Gareth Neal is a rare find. He’s both.”

http://garethneal.co.uk/

Sebastian Cox
Simply put, Sebastian Cox is a design studio and workshop based in south east London. We make timeless collections of furniture in our workshop. We design spaces, pieces for production and unique commissions in our studio. We give fallen trees a new lease of life in our mill. And we grow compostable furniture in our laboratory of biofacture.

We work everyday to champion British woodlands.

From our south-east London workshop we design and make customisable collections of furniture that are effortlessly both traditional and contemporary; championing British woodlands through making.

We undertake creative collaborations, using our expertise in wood to express brand values; through a designed object, installation, interior or product range for manufacture.

Using our chainsaw mill, we plank felled trees that are destined for the chipper. Skilfully, thoughtfully, we continue their life by transforming them into beautiful pieces of furniture.

Together with Ninela Ivanova, we have created our own laboratory of biofacture. It is here that we are using the remarkable and ancient material relationship between wood and mycelium (fungus) to grow contemporary furniture.

http://www.sebastiancox.co.uk/

Studio Swine
Studio Swine (Super Wide Interdisciplinary New Explorers) is a collaboration between Japanese Architect Azusa Murakami and British Artist Alexander Groves.

Creating works that span across disciplines, Studio Swine explores themes of regional identity and the future of resources in the context of globalisation. Their work manifests a deep research into materials and modern industrialisation.

Studio Swine’s films have been awarded at Cannes and other film festivals around the world and their work have been widely exhibited at institutions such as the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Pompidou Centre in Paris, and the Venice Art Biennale.

https://www.studioswine.com/

David Gates
London-born London-based David Gates combines studio furniture-making with formal research. His work is exhibited and collected internationally. He received the Gold Award at the Cheongju biennale 2015 and was a winner of the Jerwood Contemporary Makers 2010. Gates recently completed a PhD thesis at King’s College London having researched the use of talk as an aspect of practice amongst professional craftspeople.

Trained as a designer he has always found making and the workshop to be the most expedient way to explore ideas, working from sketches and models through to samples and experiments. Recent design and making work centres on the collecting cabinet. His various iterations on this form feature numerous types of openings and being explicitly three dimensional play with an idea of having more than one front elevation. His work makes use of mass, volume, balance, and structure having a clear relationship to architecture, yet is also wholly functional. Spaces, interiors, ledges, and shelves reveal themselves through doors, tambours, drawers, and fall-flaps suggesting places to store and display objects. These ideas combine encouraging users to spend time with a piece. Works are individually made using hand and machine processes. Gates is interested in how the cabinet operates simultaneously as text and context mediating between objects, spaces, and people. His work is informed by photographic and drawn fieldwork of the industrial landscape. His riverside studio sits in this zone close to the remaining Thames-side wharves and jetties and on the way to the flat landscape of the estuary. His workbench looks across to the cranes, buildings, and conveyors of the Tate & Lyle factory.

http://www.davidgatesstudioworkshop.co.uk/

Jay Watson
Australian Jay Watson is an independent designer-maker. Having worked in the manufacturing sector, he is able to exploit his technical understanding to explore new design concepts and develop innovative manufacturing techniques. He is based in Oxfordshire.
Watson’s furniture often benefits from the his experiments with structure, form, manufacturing techniques and materials. While he employs specialist firms to produce much of his work, he also produces high-quality bespoke commissions and prototypes in-house.

Anemoi is an LED pendant light, in five translucent Corian colours and three sizes. Fully dimmable on standard systems, the High Brightness LEDs offer a colour temperature of 4000k and rated for 100,000 hours.

Linger a Little Longer is fun statement about how precious we can be about furniture. The table and bench’s thermocromic finish changes colour with heat, so cups, plates – even people – leave a temporary mark.

Read-all-About-It is a cube ‘ottoman’ made entirely from recycled newspaper. The piece can be made to order, but you can also make one at home by following an instructional video on Watson’s website.

http://www.jaywatsondesign.com/

Ben Huggins
Ben Huggins graduated from Parnham College in 1995 and soon after established his studio in which he tackled a range of private commissions as well developing a series of products from furniture to lighting.

In 2000, Ben founded the design studio New British Design, producing ranges of furniture which balanced problem-solving design with a distinctively cool but fun aesthetic. Always keen to explore new methods of making, the process often involved techniques not typically associated with furniture making.

Over the past two decades the scope of Ben’s work has taken an ever increasing architectural direction, culminating in the return to education to study architecture. Seven years on, architectural practice New British Design is busy taking on an ever more diverse range of projects - from restaurants to residential schemes and urban master planning.

Whilst his occupation has evolved primarily to that of an architectural designer, the synergy between furniture making and architectural design adds a distinctiveness to his work and his knowledge and understanding of craft continues to feed into every stage of the design and build process.

http://www.newbritishdesign.com/

Nicola Henshaw
Nicola Henshaw tells stories through wood

She creates work which is both sculptural and functional, drawing upon myth and folktale to inform each piece she makes.

Nicola studied Three Dimensional Design at Wolverhampton University, specialising in wood. On graduating, she received a Crafts Council Grant to set up her first studio in London. Nicola has exhibited nationally and internationally, and has had work commissioned by a wide range of private, corporate and public clients, including The Forestry Commission and The National Trust.

She lives and works in the New Forest, Hampshire.

http://www.nicolahenshaw.co.uk/