ABOUT

“David is one of the UK’s most respected designers. Trained in Furniture Design at the Royal College of Art, his designs are timeless and his passion is to create furniture that addresses real issues for the future. His furniture has won many awards and appears in permanent and private collections across Europe and America, including London’s V&A Museum and the Vitra Design Museum in Germany.”

DESIGN VALUES


COMFORT

Making a chair comfortable is central to all my designs. Comfort and good posture are much the same thing. Generous lumbar support and very little contact for the lower back prove remarkably effective and provide solutions for users with a range of seating requirements.
All my designs have flexible structures, essential as flexible chairs make for flexible people! Not only do they yield to your body, but also encourage your movement, which in turn reduces pressure points and again leads to greater comfort.

Being able to get your feet back under the seat makes getting in and out of a chair much easier, as well as making for a comfortable forward sitting posture. To this end they all avoid the need for a front rail.
Lightweight chairs make it much easier to move towards or away from a table as well as using less material.

STRUCTURE

A chair has to support a dynamic load many times its own weight. These chairs are designed as fully triangulated structures where all the joints can be pivots; the strength is in the geometry, not in a massive structure. However to overcome the stiffness of triangulation, one or more sides of the triangles are curved and thus allow flexibility which in turn makes the structure stronger, lighter and more comfortable.

MATERIAL

When looking for appropriate materials, wood stands head and shoulders above other structural materials. Merely growing it has environmental benefits. Of hardwoods, Ash stands out above all others. It is the toughest, and remarkably, is strongest when fast grown. It is self seeding. It has no sap wood so less wastage in conversion. It, together with Douglas Fir, absorbs more atmospheric carbons than any other tree. It grows particularly well in UK. It is excellent for steam bending. It is plentiful and not too expensive. The best fast grown material usually comes from young trees, this is particularly useful to timber growers as they are frequently forest thinnings, giving a return in a shorter time than the traditional main crop.

PRODUCTION

Steam bending is one of those activities where fast work is better than slow, it is very efficient and enjoyable but not fool proof, making it a very good use of a craftsman’s time. It also seasons the wood at the same time as it is bent, using a fraction of the energy required in conventional kiln drying.
 
Because the timber is worked “green” (unseasoned) it can be sourced directly from the forester who can select the right pieces, which frequently would have no other market.


Awards:

Wood Award Innovation Prize. Achair, 2010

Creative Wales Award, 2009/2010

Silver Medal & 3D Design Awards, Royal College of Art 

Public seating Award, Sit 94: National Museum of Wales (Museum of the Year 1995)

FX Green Seating Award: C3 Stacking Chair 

4 Guild Mark, Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers: C1 Upholstered Recliner and Footstool, C3 Stacking Chair, Ash Round Tables, T2 Extending Table

Indexes:

Crafts Council Index, Southern Arts, AXIS, Commissions East, SW Arts, Public arts

Publications:

Modern British Furniture. Lesley Jackson, V&A publication (2013) 

Collections:

Modelo Museum of Science and Industry, Toluca, Mexico: C3 Stacking Chair 

Rhode Island School of Design Collection, USA: Contour Chair 

Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA: Contour Chair

Vitra Design Museum, Germany: Contour Chair 

Victoria And Albert Museum, London: C1 Recliner & Footstool, C3 Stacking Chair, Contour Chair

Victor Papanek’s Private Collection, USA: C2 Director’s Chair 

Design Museum, London: Contour Chair 

Crafts Council Collection, London: C3 Stacking Chairs 

John Makepeace OBE private collection, UK: C1 Rattan Recliner & Footstool

Temple Newsam House, Leeds City Musuem: C1 Rattan Recliner & Footstool 

Design Centre Index, London: C1 Reclining Chair, C2 Director’s Chair, C3 Stacking Chair

The Science Museum, London: C3 Stacking Chair 

Exhibitions and Events:

2019. Artist in residence, School for Furniture Craftsmanship. Maine, USA

2018. British Library Interview.

2016 / 17. Sri Lanka, Investigating uses of Cinnamon wood as a by-product of cinnamon production. 

2015. Design and arrange manufacture of Worcester Collage, Oxford. Lecture Theatre Seating

2014. Tales from the Wildwood, TV nature series. Rob Penn

2014. As William Morris Said, Ruthin Craft Centre.

2013. Making Chairs, one man show, Craft Study Centre and Ruthin Crafts Centre.

2012. Visiting professor. California Collage of Art, San Francisco. 

2009. Soho Green Table and Seating

2007. Ludlow Food Centre Interior 

2007. Visiting teacher of chair making, School for Furniture Craftsmanship. Maine, USA.

2004. Opening of Scottish Parliament 

2004. ’Collect’ Crafts Council Exhibition at the V&A Museum 

2003. Design and making of Scottish Parliament Reception Desk

2003. ’Classics’ Brussels 


1995-2003. ’100% Design’ 


2003. ’To Have and To Hold’ Ferrers Gallery  


1998/1999/ 2003. ’Art In Action’ Oxford

2003. ’International Festival of Gardens’ Westonbirt Arboretum


1997/1998/ 2002/2003. ‘House & Garden’


2003. ’Take A Seat’ Bluecoat Display Center 


2003. ’Table Wares’ Beatrice Royal Gallery 

2002. ’Sustainable Designs’ Johannesburg World Summit 

1997/1998/2002. ‘Artisan’ Edinburgh Festival 

2002. ’Take a Seat’ Grace Barrand Design Studio


2002. ’In Praise or Trees’ with English Nature, Salisbury Festival


2002.’Wood x 10′ Scottish Gallery


2000/2001/2002/2003. ’Homelodge Show House’, Ideal Home Exhibition


1999/2000/2002. ’Ergonomic Chairs’ Science Museum Touring Exhibition, London 1999, Manchester 2000, Portugal 2002 


2002. ’Solo’ Artifex Gallery 


2001/2002. ’Rufford Gallery’ Nottingham 


2001/2002. ‘Brewery Arts’ Cirencester


1990/2001. ’Chelsea Crafts Fair’ 

2001. ’Designer’s Block’ London 


1999/2000/2001. ’MODE’ 


2001. ’Green Design’ Bledffa 


1994-1996/2001. ’Spectrum’ 


2000. ’Wind & Wave’ Beatrice Royal Gallery

2000. ’Guild Mark Exhibition’ Pallant House Gallery 


1994-96/ 1998-99/ 2000.’Country Living Spring Fair’


1998. ’Guild Mark Exhibition’


1995-96/ 1999. ’A Celebration of Craftsmanship’ Betty Norbury

1995. ’International Contemporary Furniture Fair’ New York

1992-96. ’Decorative Arts Today’ Bonhams
1995. ’Greenwood’ Contemporary Applied Arts 


1994. ’Conservation by Design’ RISD Museum of Modern Art, USA 


1992. ’Christmas Show’ Oriel Moystn


1992. ’Living Room’ Oxford Gallery 


1992. ’Having Made It’ Oriel 


1992. ‘IDI’


1992. ‘Exempla 92’ Munich


1992. ‘Chair Gallery’ Design Museum 


1991-92. ’Beyond The Dovetail’ Crafts Council


1990. ’In the First Place’ Aberystwyth Arts Centre


1988. ’Furniture Focus’ Northern Centre for Contemporary Art 


1983. ’Recent Work’ Leeds Craft Centre and Design Gallery


1983. ’Recent Work’ (Solo) Prescote Gallery


1982. ’The Maker’s Eye’ Crafts Council


1981. ’The Wood Exhibition’ Northern Arts 


1981. ’Prescote in London’ Warwick Arts Trust


1980. ’Furniture Projects’ Crafts Council

1980. ’Crafts Council 80′

1978-84. ‘Furniture Makers’ Prescote Gallery 

1971. ‘Chairs’ Victoria and Albert Museum

1970. ‘Whitechapel Chairs 70’ 

1967. ‘Perspex 67’ Royal College of Art