The Furniture Makers Company

The Company will present an award of £500 and a framed certificate to the maker of the best exhibit in the show as determined by a most distinguished panel of judges to be chaired by Andrew Varah. With him will be  Deyan Sudjic (Director of the Design Museum), international designer Geoffrey Harcourt RDI, and Sophy Roberts, the well-known freelance journalist especially concerned with the relationship between design and space and who writes regularly for How to Spend It and the New York Times.

This year the exhibition will run from Saturday August 20 to Monday August 29 and, as usual, it will be at the Thirlestaine Long Gallery, Bath Road, Cheltenham.

Jason Heap, the show’s organiser and himself an award winning designer/maker, has said that he is delighted to have the visible support of the Worshipful Company in the form of this new prize which will greatly enhance the prestige of the Celebration of Craftsmanship & Design and so attract more visitors – and sales.

Christopher Claxton Stevens, the well known contemporary furniture consultant, said that he is very excited about this new award as it exactly mirrors the Furniture Makers’ Company’s main aim of promoting the design, making and selling of furniture in the UK. The Company has awarded Guild Marks for many years for excellent bespoke furniture made by this country’s superb designer/makers. Making this award for design at their most important annual show is a logical and encouraging development.

More information

Christopher Claxton Stevens
24 Shandon Road London SW4 9HR

c.claxtonstevens@normanadams.com

020 8673 7071

11 July 2011

Explanatory Note

The Celebration of Craftsmanship & Design has become the largest selling exhibition of high quality bespoke furniture in the UK and every year visitors come from around the world. Last year 94% of the 900+ visitors that were polled said they would definitely visit again with less than 1% saying that they would not!

Established in 1990 by Betty Norbury, the show has evolved and grown significantly and now displays the work of around 70 designer-makers. Successful furniture designer/maker Jason Heap took over the organisation of the exhibition in 2009 and he is developing it in a way calculated to reinforce its success. Awards will include the Chair Competition for a visitor to win a chair of their choice, the Alan Peters Award (for three students to exhibit free) and an award for the Best Use of British Timber.

The emphasis has always been on the quality of the craftsmanship displayed and this is encouraged by the relatively low cost of exhibiting which allows up and coming talent as well as established designer/makers to apply to exhibit.

The Celebration of Craftsmanship & Design does not take any commission on sales made at the show so both exhibitors and visitors are assured that the exhibition really does have the best interests of the designer-makers at heart.

Press Contacts

Furniture Makers' Hall
12 Austin Friars
London EC2N 2HE

Tel020 7256 5558
Fax020 7256 5155

The Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers main site