so my last post detailed my current new design of the 'cant' console and im pleased to say it has proved quite popular and i am in the process of trying to get it displayed in galleries and shops within my local area. But most impressively it has spawned a commission for a desk based on the principle design features of it. The commission came about after a weeks holiday in the yorkshire dales that i took, if you kept an eye on my twitter feed you would have known that people up north really liked the design and that is how the commission came about so my latest design project is taking a back seat while i concentrate on making some mock ups for this new desk i have been asked to make. I sent the customer some material samples last week and that will then give me more information about what their looking for and give me time to source the right wood for them. Speaking about sourcing wood it has been an ongoing struggle of mine to find a good supplier of wood around where i live. Obviously i can travel to different wood yards and suppliers but because i am concentrating on small pieces of furniture the added cost and time travelling has to be reduced as much as possible to keep in line with my ethos and why im doing this. So i was left excited and majorly confident after a visit to a sawmill only a few miles away from where i work (how i didnt know about it sooner i do not know). It was the biggest collection of sawn timber and hardwoods i had seen, all air dried and kiln dried if required and i was in my element. But more importnantly it is now going to provide me with an invaluable source of good quality english hardwoods that i know have been managed and sourced sustainably and that can aid in my design direction of providing locally sourced environmentally considerate furntiure designs. So now I have the daunting task of selecting which hardwoods i want to use and working out the price structure to go with it.
But the most valuable asset this local yard will provide me with is knowledge. i was only there for half an hour but the owner taught me so much about wood and the business of wood that i had learnt more there than i could have learnt from countless books and blog posts. so this can only encourage me further and in time make my craft skills that much better becuase i am understanding the wood and not just cutting it and sticking it together.
Just going back to my trip to yorkshire in general i was amazed by the amount of independent furniture makers i saw there. Such a large collection in an even larger area of britian, they all had signs outside their houses and workshops bolted onto their houses so i guess a large part of their income is generated from the tourists. Its a shame sleepy norfolk is not as popular as yorkshire but it certainly gave me confidence to keep going and pursue what i love, as long as the design is at the forefront, and good design at that.
so as you can tell this new commission is going to take up alot of my time but it has also allowed me to discover new things and learn, which is great. Inbetween this new commission which will involve countless mockups and trips to my local diy store to get some scrap wood for this purpose, i am still refining the design for my latest project which will spawn a new collection in time and a new design direction. So if im lucky i can work on two projects at once and learn and adapte my skills for both. An excellent time and always im doing something i love so i could not be happier.
enjoy the easter break and remember to keep an eye on my twitter feed as we detail snippets and insights into the new designs i create