Cabinet Making
Information and Resources
UK Furniture Exhibitions
The V&A in South Kensington, London, has a superb furniture collection with examples from all eras, including a particularly good contemporary furniture collection. If you are interested in furniture design or just want to get some ideas for a piece of bespoke furniture that you want to commission, then it's well worth a visit.
Staying in London, the Geffrye Museum, in Shoreditch, has an excellent collection of furniture from 1600 to 1950's, in a series of period rooms which carefully re-create the interiors of the times.
In the Cotswolds, the Arts and Crafts Museum of Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum has a fine collection relating to the arts and crafts movement, which includes furniture, pottery, silver, metalwork, jewellery, textiles and embroideries.
For those in the North, the Bowes Museum, in Barnard Castle, County Durham, has a comprehensive collection of European furniture between 100 and 400 years old, displayed in fine period rooms.
Cabinet Making and Furniture Design Training Courses
If you are considering training as a cabinet maker or furniture designer here are a few sites that may be of interest.
Rycotewood College has trained many UK cabinet makers - including myself. Now part of Oxford and Cherwell Valley College, the rebranded Rycotewood Furniture Centre continues to offer a range of furniture related courses.
For those that are looking for a degree level course, whatuni.com lists these Furniture Design degree courses - a total of twelve universities offering courses currently.
Bucks New University runs a range of furniture and design related courses, including a Furniture Studies HND, as well as degree level and postgraduate (MA) courses.
If you are looking for practical, vocational courses in furniture related subjects, then the City and Guilds website can give you all the information you need, including details of your nearest training centres.
Outside of the academic and vocational institutions, there are a number of cabinet makers that independently provide private, predominately workshop based training. Amongst these are: David Savage - in North Devon, David Charlesworth - also in North Devon, Chris Faulkner - in South Devon, The Chippendale International School of Furniture - in East Lothian, Scotland, and Michael Scott - also in Devon.
Other Sites of Interest
If you are looking for something unusual to add a distinctive and contemporary touch to your home, then some handmade contemporary etched glass from Caroline Rees Glass Design could be just the thing for you:
Caroline provides personal, unique and functional glazing solutions, individually designed and created to add a stunning artistic statement to any space.
Books on Cabinet Making and Furniture Design
If you are looking for books on Cabinet Making and Furniture design, whether you intend to persue it as a hobby or a career, here are some recommendations. The links will take you to the relevant page in Amazon UK for that book.
|
, is a long established teacher of woodworking who writes from a wealth of practical experience.Finding a Local Cabinet Maker
If you are looking for a cabinet maker to make some bespoke furniture for you, then you may prefer to find someone local. We're not looking to turn away commissions from North of the border - but realistically, because producing bespoke furniture involves consultation between craftsman and customer, finding a cabinet maker not too far away may well be preferable, so here are some tips to help you do that:
If you want to search in Google for nearby services then try searching for the thing you are looking for, along with your postcode (or part of your postcode) - e.g. furniture SW6. Google will return pages containing 'furniture' that also contain the postcode SW6. That's why you see our address at the bottom of every page! If you want to combine a phrase with a location, then it is best to enclose that phrase in quotation marks - e.g. "cabinet maker" SW6.
Local Directories can also be helpful in locating services near to you. These may be directories local to the UK which target a particular market sector (e.g. Homesources), or local to a particular area. Here are some examples:
UK Shopping
A directory of UK retailers, including clothing shops, home improvements, holidays, cars & insurance.
Business Seek .biz Business Directory
A categorized UK business directory and search engine.
Homesources
A UK directory for all things to do with renovating, decorating, designing and furnishing your home.
You should be able to find a local directory for your area by doing a search for 'mytown directory' in Google or any of the search engines.
Dimension Furniture
Cabinet makers, bespoke furniture makers
Quality handmade furniture designed and built to requirement in the UK