British design has remained an important part of the Heal’s offering for over two centuries, largely thanks to the passion and vision of the people behind their creations.
We’ve launched a campaign to highlight the impact that British creators have had on the design world. As much a celebration of the people as the designs themselves, British Designers at Heal’s delves into the dynamic world of British design, showcasing the very best pieces from some of the most creative minds in the country.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be exploring what inspires these visionaries, how they have perfected their craft and some of the key designs that have shaped their career. But first let’s start with an important question...
What is British design?
Whilst there is no set rules or list of attributes that define it, it is perhaps best summed up by one of the nation’s most recognisable objects: the red phone box. Voted the nation’s favourite British design in a poll undertaken by Kingston University in 2015, it beat the likes of the double decker bus, the 2012 Olympic Torch and the London Eye.
The design dates from a competition in 1924 won by the architect Giles Gilbert Scott, designer of Liverpool’s Anglican cathedral and London’s Battersea and Bankside power stations. Scott’s original timber prototype can still be seen beneath the arch of the Royal Academy on Piccadilly.
Skip ahead a few decades and their function is practically obsolete, yet they are still considered an indispensable part of the UK streetscape, most likely garnering 40% of the vote because of their status as a cultural symbol.
This, in some ways, sums up what British design is about. There’s an element of iconoclasm and inventiveness, mixed in with an enduring nostalgia for our heritage and traditions.
Where did it originate?
In 1946, the Britain Can Make It exhibition was held at the V&A, displaying British products that evolved from new materials and processes developed in the war. It was a statement of faith that Britain could rebuild itself and it set the tone for the Festival of Britain that was held five years later.
A theme of measured and modest design emerged from both exhibitions – not surprising given that Britain was recovering from post-war austerity. Brands like Ercol shot to prominence with simply-shaped furniture made from strong materials.
Their timeless quality highlighting the fact that their designs were made rather than moulded. The demand for contemporary British furnishings began.
British design in the modern day
Skip ahead a few years to the 21st century and national characteristics are still prevalent in design. Whilst Italian furniture is known for its visual flair, and German for its efficiency, British design is very much rooted in its modesty. It’s restrained and balanced, using specialist manufacturing techniques that put an emphasis on craftsmanship.
Russell Pinch is a great example. The elegant and sleek Wallis sofa echoes the clean lines of an Aston Martin and the tailoring of a Saville Row suit. Its design is understated – not shouty or brash, but highly considered and expertly crafted.
The Wallis sofa by Russell Pinch
Similarly Tom Raffield, an artisan in bent wood from Devon, uses a pioneering technique to steam bend timber to create beautiful furniture and lighting designs. After much trial and error, his breakthrough came when he held a thin board of ash over a kettle for 20 minutes.
Binding the switch with gaffer tape kept the kettle boiling but also blew the fuse. By that time though Tom was able to twist the wood around a pipe and set it as a curve. And with that a whole new way of working with timber was born. How very innovative. How very British.
Let’s not forget that British design is also inventive and unusual. Think about brands like Paul Smith, Burberry, and Mini – they are quintessential British brands that aren’t afraid to make a statement.
Often pushing the boundaries, pieces are often quirky, rebelling against a classic style and adding their own identity. Jode Pankhurst, who features in our list, uses traditional techniques to make her ceramic pieces but her hand painted decoration is unusual and her shapes are unique. No two pieces are the same but are each is instantly recognisable as her own.
To experience British Designers at Heal’s in full, visit our Tottenham Court Road store throughout August.
[ INSPIRATION ]
Behind the design
From design studio to architectural masterpiece to gallery, Isokon is one the most treasured examples of modernism in Britain.
In curating the Heal’s 100 exhibition, Director of the Isokon Gallery Trust Magnus Englund has uncovered the close bonds between the design group and Heal’s that together tell a fascinating story of the development of British design in the 20th century.
Founded in 1929, Isokon aimed to bring the new ‘international style’ of modernist design that was emerging across Europe to British homes. Run by Jack and Molly Pritchard, the design studio was initially set up as an architectural practice but subsequently found more fortune in making furniture with recent emigré and former Bauhaus director Walter Gropius becoming the Controller of Design in 1935.
Gropius in turn drafted in former colleague Marcel Breuer to design for the studio whose iconic Isokon Long Chair (1935), alongside the Isokon Penguin Donkey by Egon Riss (1935), were both sold at Heal’s.
Isokon Long Chair by Marcel Breuer (1935).
Original Isokon catalogue circa 1930s. While Isokon had its own showroom within the Lawn Road flats (scroll down to read more about the Isokon building), one of the main exponents for its ground-breaking style was Heal’s.
A firm believer in modernist design, the store's director Ambrose Heal held a series of ‘Modern Tendencies’ exhibitions within the stores Mansard Gallery to showcase this daring new furniture including the work of Marcel Breuer in a show entitled ‘Contemporary Furniture by Seven Architects’.
For more information on the link between the Bauhaus and Heal’s read our blog Art Into Industry – The Bauhaus at Heal’s.
On the close bond between Isokon and Heal’s, Magnus Englund explains: “When researching the Isokon and the Pritchard family, I soon got to learn that the major outlet for Isokon furniture during the 1930s had been Heal’s, and that Jack Pritchard frequently corresponded with both Christopher and Anthony Heal, not just about business but also on personal matters.”
HEAL’S 100: Isokon Penguin Donkey Mk I (1935)
“Jack Pritchard, the founder of the Isokon furniture company, knew Allen Lane, creator of Penguin Books and decided to create a piece to hold the publishing house’s paperback books. Designer Egon Riss was an Austrian-Jewish émigré who fled to England and lived in the landmark Isokon building...
The plywood for the original Mk I design came from Estonia and, when the country was invaded during the second World War, work on it ceased and it never made it into production. It was revived in the 1960s with a second, different iteration before the Mk I was produced again in the 1980s.”
Advertisement for the Lawn Road Flats circa 1930s.
The Isokon building on opening day in 1934. The crowning achievement of the project was the Isokon building, at the time labelled by its masterminds Jack and Molly Pritchard as ‘an experiment in new ways of urban living’.
Designed by eminent British architect Wells Coates and completed in 1934, the Lawn Road flats were the first in Britain to be built chiefly using reinforced concrete with the bright white, ocean-liner design standing in stark contrast to the leafy suburban surroundings of North London at the time.
Alongside aforementioned designers Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer, other notable residents included Agatha Christie plus the architectural critic J.M. Richards, who later wrote that the building was ‘more like the machine a-habiter than anything Le Corbusier ever designed’ in reference to the modernist architects infamous quote that ‘a house is a machine for living in.’
Entrance to the Isokon Gallery.
Marcel Breuer's Isokon Long Chair (1935) and Egon Riss's Isokon Penguin Donkey (1935) set against a backdrop shot of the Isokon penthouse where Magnus Englund is a resident. One of the earliest examples of modernist urban housing in Britain, over time the Isokon building fell into a sorry state of disrepair following years of neglect.
That is until an exemplary restoration by Avanti Architects in 2004 helped restore the block to its former glory, leading to the award of Grade I listing from English Heritage and the opening of the Isokon Gallery to commemorate the historic role both the building and design studio played in 20th-century design.
On the foundation of the gallery, Magnus Englund recently explained to Heal's: “The Isokon Gallery Trust and museum was set up in 2014 with the purpose of telling the remarkable story of the Grade I listed Isokon building from 1934. I’m a trustee of the museum and also a lucky resident of the Isokon penthouse, home for five decades to Isokon founders Jack and Molly Pritchard.”
To discover more of the fascinating design stories from our Heal’s 100 exhibition, visit our Tottenham Court Road store from 8th May – 11th June, or shop a selected edit of design icons online now.
Distilling over a century of iconic design into just one hundred pieces is no small order.
Yet, that is exactly what Magnus Englund, Founding Director of Skandium and Director of the Isokon Gallery Trust, has managed for our Heal’s 100 exhibition. A celebration of great design that has helped shape our time, the Heal’s 100 is a season-long showcase of the most iconic pieces sold at Heal’s over the past century.
Curated by furniture and interiors expert, Magnus Englund, this fascinating and informative edit brings together one hundred design icons to highlight not only the stories behind each piece but the role Heal’s has played in shaping contemporary design in Britain.
From 8th May - 11th June, the Heal’s building on Tottenham Court Road will play host to an exhibition of one hundred hand-picked designs ranging all the way from archive and antique pieces to future heirlooms from our contemporary collections (many of which will be available to buy, take home and cherish for years to come).
Alongside this fascinating display, there will also be copies of the limited edition Heal’s 100 book, which tells the history behind each iconic design and features a foreword by the show’s curator Magnus Englund.
When it comes to iconic design, Magnus is something of an authority. Having set up his first store in Stockholm in the early nineties, which, ironically, sold British menswear, he moved to London in 1995 before founding the Scandinavian interiors specialists Skandium at the close of the century.
His love of classic design is by no means limited to Nordic pieces as demonstrated by his role as Director at the Isokon Gallery Trust, a Grade I listed building and a modernist masterpiece in which he also happens to live.
The building, gallery and Isokon design studio have long had ties with Heal’s, dating all the way back to our former director Ambrose Heal in the 1930s, and it was this link that brought about Magnus’ custodianship of Heal’s 100.
With his extensive knowledge and passion for British design heritage, who better to curate the project and bring over a century of retail innovation to life. To learn more about how Magnus set about selecting those one hundred pieces we paid a visit to his penthouse apartment, a modernist mecca if ever we have seen one - watch the full interview here.
“We used several approaches for the research of Heal’s 100 one of which was to have a dialogue within the buying team at Heal’s to find out what had sold well today and in more recent times. Then we also visited the Heal’s archive, which has been held by the V&A since the 1980s at Blythe house, a huge building near Olympia exhibition centre that was originally built in 1899 as the headquarters of the Post office savings Bank...
That was one of the greatest days in my life, going through all those documents, drawings and folders to see who they communicated with and which designers and manufacturers they were in touch with around the world. But the most amazing experience was to visit Oliver Heal, the last Heal family member running the company, in the historical house that his grandfather, Sir Ambrose heal, had bought in the 1910s. His home is filled with furniture and objects that were sold at Heal’s, and he generously laid out documents relating to both Scandinavian modern design and Isokon.”
Magnus’s enthusiasm for great design is infectious and we are sure visitors to Heal’s 100 will find themselves fascinated by the history of this collection. If there’s one thing you are sure to take away from the exhibition, it’s that this story is still being written with many of the designs on show featured as part of Heal’s current collections.
As Magnus comments, “one of the beautiful things about Heal’s is that it looks to its British heritage through things like Heal’s Discovers. So a lot of the makers and craftspeople of today have an opportunity to show their products at Heal’s and some of those we have included in the collection. Hopefully, they will be future classics in days to come.”
To experience the Heal’s 100 in full, visit our Tottenham Court Road store from 8th May - 11th June, or shop a selected edit of design icons online now.
Bringing the Midas touch to unwanted furniture, Goldfinger Factory is an innovative social enterprise that provides a platform for designers, makers and education on all things craft.
For our Heal’s Modern Craft Market: Made in London, they bring their award-winning West London workshop to our flagship store with a host of beautifully crafted and unique pieces for you to take home and be loved once more. Of course, like Heal’s, the Goldfinger Factory is much more than simply a furniture store.
To really get a feel for what they are all about one must pay a visit to their West London showroom and café, both of which are housed within the ever so chic Trellick Tower in Kensal Town alongside their workshops and academy.
A modernist monolith, Trellick Tower has gone from a carbuncle on London’s landscape to being seen as an icon of the postwar era whose spacious flats, conveniently situated in Ladbroke Grove, are now much sought after.
The building is the work of Hungarian-born architect Ernö Goldfinger, whose other masterpiece includes the National Trust owned 2 Willow Road (one local resident who went by the name of Ian Fleming had such a dislike to Goldfinger’s modernist style that he named one James Bond’s arch nemesis after the architect).
Finished in 1972, Trellick Tower is a 31 story housing block designed in the Brutalist style and is based on Goldfinger’s Balfron Tower in Poplar, which was built a few years earlier in 1967. The building epitomises the post-war trend for high-rise living as a solution to London’s housing shortage at the time, however, by the time it was completed the utopian vision had turned sour with the public proving increasingly hostile to such futuristic architecture.
Added to this, rising crime levels and neglect to the upkeep of the building saw it fall into a severe state of disrepair. Thankfully, as property prices began to rise in the eighties and nineties so to did the fortunes of Trellick Tower, which eventually received the Grade II listed status it deserved in 1998.
Multicoloured furniture by Rasha El-Sady
The Goldfinger Factory not only takes its name from the iconic architect but is also inspired by the story of Trellick Tower in the way it gives new life to neglected pieces of design. Upcycling is at the heart of everything (the studio motto is turning ‘waste into gold’) with a showroom packed full of one-off pieces plus a bespoke service with furniture made from your choice of entirely reclaimed materials or a combination of old and new.
Believing that ‘waste is just a resource in the wrong hands,’ each design is made in-house using waste materials collected from London’s numerous landfill and construction sites or from sustainable FSC registered sources when required.
Besides the stunning designs on show, what makes the Goldfinger Factory really special is the way in which it uses craft as a means to improve people's lives. Through the learning academy and makers workshops (both of which are buried away underneath the building), the social enterprise is able to provide skills training that is aimed at helping local people gain or return to employment as well as offer designers, makers and craftspeople a platform to develop and sell bespoke furniture and interiors.
All profits from the sale of the furniture are reinvested back into the scheme meaning that every piece purchased from the Goldfinger Factory is helping to make a difference.
Clocks by Ben Wadhams of Fellow Designs Situated on the ground level of the building on Golborne Road, next door to the showroom you will find a bustling café, which is not only a great place to grab a coffee and a snack but also acts as a ‘food incubation’ platform that supports local food entrepreneurs and chefs.
Curated by chef Bain-Marie, the ever-changing line-up offers a wide range of culinary delights with current pop-up Panella serving mouthwatering Sicilian street food.
In return, that month's restauranteurs offer their services to events in aid of the local community such as the People's Kitchen - a monthly feast made from surplus food collected from local bakeries and markets. You can even get involved in making the food and all donations to the meal go to local charity Mary’s meals. Now that’s what we call comfort food!
Upcycled necklace workshop with Goldfinger Factory
Designed by Catherine Stolarski, the Goldfinger Factory’s Offcut necklaces were created as a way of minimising waste in the workshop, melding a minimalist design and a commitment to thoughtful consumption. In this workshop, you will learn the techniques to make your own unique necklace to add to your jewellery collection.
Much like her prints, Caitlin Hinshelwood's approach to her craft is a multi-layered process that reveals ever greater levels of detail and complexity the closer you get to it.
Oh, and did we mention that her playful screen printed textiles provide the perfect accessory for both your wardrobe and interior design? Part of Heal's Modern Craft Market: Made in London, we have long been admirers of Caitlin's colourful scarfs, flags and fabric designs, so when she invited us over to have a nosey around her bustling Bermondsey studio to see the some of the pieces that will be on display being hand printed, we jumped at the chance.
Of course, it's only fair that we share such an experience with all you design devotees out there and for those who wish to the see the process plus meet Caitlin in person make sure to head to the Made in London launch party at our flagship store.
Did you have aspirations to become a designer from a young age?
When I was younger I wanted to be David Attenborough. But I’ve always liked getting my hands dirty and creating stuff, so it makes sense that I became a designer. I studied Printed Textiles at the University of Brighton and have been designing and screen-printing ever since I graduated.
However, I’ve had many other weird and wonderful jobs along the way to support myself in doing that. I currently work part-time as a lecturer in Printed Textiles at Winchester School of Art, which is a very inspiring job to do alongside being a designer and maker.
What’s the first piece you designed that you were truly proud of?
I guess my graduate collection was the first time I think I’d really understood design so that’s probably the most significant moment but not necessarily the proudest. You always go off things and strive to do things better.
I felt truly proud of the large-scale flags I produced last year as I’d really pushed myself with those and they combine lots of ideas and techniques I’d been honing for many years. There’s also one on display as part of the Heal’s Modern Craft Market.
How long has it taken you to learn and develop your screen printing skills?
I learnt the foundation of my skills at university but if I hadn’t kept screen-printing in the 10 years since then I wouldn’t have refined them as I have now. My understanding of the processes I use has grown so much in those years.
I mainly use a complex printing process called colour discharge printing which can be very unpredictable and variable so I’ve had to keep doing it all this time to get anything near decent.
Can you pinpoint what it is about the medium of screen printing that you love?
Screen printing is a surprisingly long-winded and laborious process, which I’m not sure everyone always understands. However, the moment when you actually start printing and putting colours down and the piece starts coming together is always so exciting.
Colour is one of the most important parts of my practice and I absolutely love playing with it in the print room and pushing the combinations I use. It’s the moment your black and white screen artwork finally comes to life!
“When I was younger I wanted to be David Attenborough. But I’ve always liked getting my hands dirty and creating stuff, so it makes sense that I became a designer.”
Which designers and makers most inspire your work?
I tend not to look too much to other designers and makers, that’s not to say I don’t admire the work of others, it’s just that my inspirations come from elsewhere. I always admire the things that feel like a real labour of love, often work by unknown makers who were just producing things for the love of making or decoration or necessity.
In another life, I think I would have been a weaver as I have an endless admiration for woven textiles. I think the studio Rare Thread, a collective of incredible weavers, are producing some very beautiful and exciting fabrics.
Tell us a bit about your studio and the where you produce your work.
I recently moved to a new studio space in Stoke Newington and I love it there. I have my own little mezzanine floor with all my books, research and materials around me, and it just feels like a great place to be tucked away to create. It also has multiple windows, which has been an exciting step up in the world.
I do all the screen printing at Printall Studios, a workshop in Bermondsey, which is an open-access space. I’ve been printing there for a really long time and have built up a network of other printers that provides a great sense of community and support.
What’s an average day in your studio like?
Every day is different to the next depending on what I am working on and which space I am working in. Time in my design studio tends to be much more quiet and calm, working ideas out, drawing, doing artwork whilst listening to music.
A day in the print workshop is very long and tiring and I barely stop to sit down all day, but that’s the place where ideas start to be transformed. I dye and wash out all the fabrics at home so that again is another kind of working day, one where I try not to get distracted by the garden or the cat. It’s good to have that contrast.
Talk us through the process for creating your scarfs.
An idea for a new piece usually emerges from discovering something at a museum, in a book, or while travelling. It might be one particular thing or a culmination of lots of different threads. I’ll usually have an idea about what it will become in terms of end product, which will determine the scale, choice of fabric and layout of the piece.
For my new collection of scarfs, for example, inspiration came from a visit to the Museum of English Rural Life, which was then followed by me flicking through my books and pulling ideas together. Then I’ll draw out the design quite roughly, always starting with the border design, then adding the central motifs and finally filling in decoration.
After this I’ll work out how many colours I want and plot out which imagery will be which colour, mapping it out on the drawing, that way I can check the balance of colour across the piece. Once this has been decided I’ll paint out each layer in black on drafting film for exposing my screens.
“I love playing with colour in the print room and pushing the combinations I use. It’s the moment your screen artwork finally comes to life!”
With my scarves I hand dye the fabric in batches, if I’m printing a run of 10, I’ll choose 10 different colours for the backgrounds. My choice is pretty arbitrary, I’ll nearly always throw in a few colours that I don’t like or think will be challenging to test myself.
Similarly, when I’m at the workshop, the colour choices are entirely instinctive and I have no real set plan, just adding to each layer with combinations I think will work or be interesting.
Once all the layers are printed and dried you have to steam the fabric to fix the colours and make the colours react. The process I use means that during the steaming process, a chemical in the print paste will bleach out the base colour replacing it with the colour of the paste.
This can be a totally magical process transforming what looked really dull into something glowing and vibrant or it can be a total disappointment when it doesn’t work or the colours do something completely unexpected in the steamer.
Finally, each piece has to be washed out in hot and cold water to further fix the colour and wash off the paste. At that stage I am ready to hand them over to be finished by my seamstress.
What is it about living and working in London that inspires you?
London isn’t an easy city to live or work in but sometimes it’s that challenge that can push you with your work to try harder and to move things forward. It’s also inspiring to be around so many of my talented and creative friends and have so much access to amazing museums, cinema, dance, music, etc.
Are there any hidden gems in the capital that you always recommend to friends?
Brixi, a shop in Brixton market, because it feels like so many other shops carry exactly the same stock and never take a chance on interesting designers and products whereas Emy stocks way more unusual stuff and it all feels really personal, which I love even if it’s not all to my taste.
Fenton House in Hampstead also has a really beautiful orchard and kitchen garden - I used to volunteer there so it has a special place in my heart. I live off Green Lanes in Haringey where I can buy pretty much every type of herb, spice, vegetable, pastry, and dumpling I desire. Yasar Halim is an amazing bakery where you feel as if you are in another country. In fact, on a sunny day Green Lanes can feel like you are on holiday.
Beyond the Heal's Modern Craft Market, what does the future hold for Caitlin Hinshelwood?
I have a solo exhibition opening at Cecil Sharp House in September so that’s my main project at the moment. It’s really exciting to be working with the English Folk Dance and Song Society archives alongside material at the People’s History Museum in Manchester as it touches on so many areas of interest for me.
I’ll be producing eleven large-scale textile banners to hang in their public spaces. It’s going to be my most ambitious project to date so I am full of excitement and trepidation.
Weaving her magic in her Dalston studio, Rachael South has gained a reputation for her contemporary approach to restoring neglected pieces of furniture.
She was, therefore, a natural fit for the Heal’s Modern Craft Market: Made in London, where she will be demonstrating the art of woven chair making as well as holding a series of workshops teaching the art of chair caning.
Having had an extensive career designing textiles and creating bespoke Passementerie (that’s designing and making tassels and braids to you and I), Rachael returned to her primary passion for restoring and upcyling vintage pieces of furniture by taking on her father Terry South’s established upholstery business.
To learn more about her passion for craft, the capital and all things chairs, we visited her studio to see some of the techniques that will be on display in store at Made in London.
Where did you learn your craft?
It was my father that taught me chair caning when I was a teenager. I was in my dad's upholstery workshop from a young age and there were a lot of opportunities for making things using leftover fabrics that were lying around. I loved the sewing machine and even used to make my own clothes.
Later I studied Textile Design at Guildhall University and when I left school my first job was with Warner Fabrics as a showroom assistant, so I have had several other teachers since. Recently the roles were reversed and I taught a class of very experienced seat weavers. Needless to say, I learnt a few new things myself!
What is it about the craft of weaving that fascinates you?
Traditional seat weaving offers the use of natural plant based materials which are not only very beautiful but also extremely functional. I really like the inconsistencies which occur in the natural material, which also provides the unique aesthetic quality to each piece. #
I love the work of Patricia Urquiola and also some of the Scandinavian mid-century designers who used seat weaving in their practise such as Jorgen Hovelskov.
What’s the first piece you designed that you were truly proud of?
I really like my leather woven bentwood rocking chair, the chair frame is a classic, well-known shape and I think the addition of the woven seat and back in the non-traditional woven leather and star pattern really complements the frame.
This type of weaving hasn't really been used on this particular style of furniture before. Since they were first exhibited in 2013, these chairs have continued to prove extremely popular with constant commissions to weave more.
“I really like the inconsistencies that occur in the natural material, which also provides the unique aesthetic quality to each piece.”
Talk us through the process for creating one of your pieces?
My chairs are usually a collision of ideas, materials and frames that I've collected and stored. I might try a new weave pattern and then think "ah this could work with that materiel and that chair frame."
I am always on the look out for new materials that might inspire this process. I also really like any collaborative work as it's a challenge and can often push my skills somewhere I would never have thought of by myself.
Describe to us an average day in your studio.
My studio is in Dalston and usually full the brim with furniture! The radio is always on, I have a cutting table, and a couple of trestles and tables set up depending on who's coming in for the day. My materials are usually out and tools hung on the wall or in open tool boxes. It's a real hive of activity once we get going.
The reason I love my job is because of the variety of work I get to do, some days I'm working only on commissions and restoration work and other days I may be doing design development work for collaborations or preparing materials for teaching. I usually have tea or coffee discuss the days work with Yvonne, Electra or Gabby who work with me, and then we just get on.
What is it about living and working in the capital that inspires you?
I have travelled a lot and lived abroad and in the countryside. Living and working in London, however, offers such a vast array of work opportunities and also the chance to meet so many other people involved in making.
I love the close proximity of museums and think the Geffrye Museum round the corner is a fascinating place. You can literally step back in time as you go from one room interior to the next. I have done a work shop there and have another coming up soon as part of the Second Sitters Exhibition.
Tell us a bit about the workshop you will be running as part of the Heal’s Modern Craft Market: Made in London.
I am going to be running a days introduction to chair caning. If you have an interest in the craft it'll be a fun day weaving a small frame using the traditional cane in the six way pattern. It is a great place to start if you've ever thought you'd like to learn the craft or have a chair at home you'd like to cane a seat for.
“Living and working in London offers such a vast array of opportunities and also the chance to meet so many other people involved in making.”
What does the future hold for you and your practise?
I'm going to be start teaching a four day professional course in chair caning at London Metropolitan University this July, which I'm really excited about as, despite the fact there are a few places already offering leisure classes, I hope to be able to set a standard with this course.
I've spoken to the tutors who used to teach the city and guilds qualification and have designed the course around this. I'm also planning a trip to Japan later this year and would really like to immerse myself in the craft scene over there particularly the Bamboo weaving which has similarities to caning.
HEAL'S DISCOVERS
HEAL'S DISCOVERS
Ed Heritage
As part of this season’s Heal’s Discovers initiative, we’re delighted to introduce Ed Heritage, an award-winning UK-based designer whose signature style of clean geometry and playful details is reflected in the beautiful lamp he created.
Discover more
-
Trends & Lifestyle
-
At Heal's
-
Tips & Advice
