John Makepeace first saw fine furniture being made when he was eleven, and then he visited the great cabinet makers in Copenhagen in his teens. Design and craftsmanship came naturally to him. Early professional recognition led to his work as a design consultant to the All India Handicrafts Board, a founding member of the Crafts Council in the UK and a Trustee of the V&A, London. Early commissions from Templeton and Keble College, Oxford, Liberty's, Banque Générale du Luxembourg, were followed by international museums, corporate and private clients.

In the 1970s John Makepeace conceived a “School for Craftsmen in Wood” that would integrate business, design and craftsmanship. He was tired of a professional hierarchy that placed business first, design second and craftsmanship third, a perception that was eroding the value of technical skill and the intimate knowledge of materials.

PARNHAM COLLEGE

In 1976, John bought Parnham House, an 80-room Tudor manor near Beaminster, Dorset, to provide larger workshops for his team of craftsmen, a historic house open to the public in which to show his furniture, and separately, an independent residential college and workshops for 22 aspiring furniture designers and makers in preparation for running their own businesses. 

By 1980, demand for places was enormous. Rather than grow in size at Parnham, in 1982, Parnham Trust purchased Hooke Park, a 350-acre broadleaf and conifer forest nearby from the Forestry Commission, and under John’s direction, built the new campus there.

In 2001, having spent a lot of his time over the previous 25 years fund-raising, it was time to step down as a Director. The Trustees amalgamated the Trust with the Architectural Association School of Architecture, which now runs its practical building courses there.

https://www.johnmakepeacefurniture.com/

Aidan McEvoy is a designer maker of contemporary fine furniture, with 15 years professional experience designing and making a wide variety of pieces. These range from a table commissioned for the Summerhouse at Buckingham Palace to a jewellery box purchased by the New Walk Museum & Art Gallery in Leicester to showcase the legacy of the Arts & Crafts movement. https://amfinefurniture.co.uk/

Gervais Sawyer is an expert on everything to do with timber, its properties and structure. He was a  Senior Lecturer at the Forest Products Research Centre at Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College and has authored and contributed to many scientific papers on timber use and preservation.

Vic began his career in woodworking after serving 14 years in the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery. He then went on to study furniture design and making at Rosewood Studio under the guidance of some of North America's top furniture makers. Following that he started a small business designing and crafting furniture by commission while working at Rosewood as a part-time instructor and craftsman in residence. Following his job as editor for Canadian Woodworking & Home Improvement Magazine, he became the Woodworking Advisor at Lee Valley Tools, where he helped to develop tools and traveled around the globe to teach and present at various conferences, shows, and woodworking events. https://victesolinwoodworks.com/