Raw Craft presents furniture characterised by an honest, intelligent
and logical approach to making. A tangible materiality is evident in
the look and feel of the works. The furniture displayed reveals a
subtle originality in the way that skills and resources are employed,
imbued with simplicity and a high quality of finish.
All seven designers use modest materials and a hands-on approach
to prototyping and making. They reject excess, and employ the selfempowering values of traditional workshop culture. Working in an
age of austerity, their work is rich in creativity and intelligence.
Raw Craft is produced by the Crafts Council with Brent Dzekciorius
and Michael Marriott as curatorial advisors.
Brent Dzekciorius is Director of Retail Operations at Phillips de
Pury & Company, and was appointed as a Crafts Council
Acquisition Advisor in 2011. He is a former director of Johnson
Trading Gallery and Moss Gallery, New York, and maintains his
own art and design production company DZEK.
Michael Marriott is a designer. He trained in furniture design at the
London College of Furniture and the Royal College of Art. He now
works on a wide range of projects and collaborations that span
exhibition design, curating, writing, product and furniture design,
and installation. He was appointed as a Crafts Council Acquisition
Advisor in 2011.
Pewter Stool (detail),
Max Lamb, 2006.
Photo: Nick Moss
Raw Craft
Film and Sound:
Federico Urdaneta,
Christmas Tree Table,
Fabien Cappello, 2011.
Photo: Nick Moss
Fabien Cappello /
Fabien Cappello is a furniture designer interested in the creative use of local resources and manufacturing, and
their potential for social infrastructure. His approach to design is highly collaborative: "I connect ideas, people
and local materials", absorbing the culture and context around him and melding it into his work. "I like my
projects to stem from a connection with specific contexts and the people I collaborate with. I'm not interested in
abstract ideas." Many of his projects have involved surveying and mapping local resources, often identifying what
is not used or valued, and drawing out unexpected qualities.
Cappello graduated from the Royal College of Art, London, in 2009, where his graduate show included an
investigation into the finite economy of Christmas trees, creating furniture from the discarded wood.
www.fabiencappello.com
Brent Dzekciorius on Christmas Tree Table "Underscoring his wider interest in mapping design via local resource
and manufacturing methods, Cappello's Christmas Tree Project exploits a discarded material, expanding
Christmas trees' seemingly finite economy by upcycling them into elegantly joined, rough-hewn furnishings in a
project that could have a profound impact on maintaining and even expanding regional craft traditions."
Michael Marriott on Christmas Tree Table "This is a project built around the observation of the annual January
dumping of Christmas trees on the streets of London. The resourcefulness that brought this rich source to surface
as furniture-making material is also apparent in the construction and feel of the finished pieces. The 'M&W' joints
between the different stumps provide an odd and interesting way of connecting the slices of different trunks, both
structurally and aesthetically."
Pewter Stool,
Max Lamb, 2006.
Photo: Nick Moss
Max Lamb /
Max Lamb's work is informed by his respect for materials, extensive knowledge of manufacturing techniques, and
skill as a maker. He is interested in exploring and re-contextualising both traditional and unconventional materials
and processes, and blends these to create furniture and products that possess a visual simplicity. Honesty to
material and celebration of process are key to Lamb's intent: "I'm a craftsman who is passionate about raw
materials and the way that as a designer and maker I can interact with them in a physical, tangible way".
A native of Cornwall, Lamb has engaged with objects and the physical landscape from a young age, ultimately
leading to an MA in Design Products at the Royal College of Art, London. He subsequently founded his
workshop-based design practice in 2008, and teaches on the Industrial Design course at ƒCAL, University of Art
and Design, Lausanne.
www.maxlamb.org
Brent Dzekciorius on Pewter Stool "Lamb is one of the most internationally celebrated young designers today and
the Pewter Stool on view earned him early recognition as a recipient of the 2007 Design Miami Designer of the
Future Award. Lamb displays a peerless curiosity in materials and a firm understanding of traditional processes.
Pewter Stool adapts a primitive form of sand casting with a modernist's approach. Each relief is carved into beach
sand and filled with molten pewter. The contrasting textures of the rough sand and silky metal are left to coexist in
celebration of the inherent imperfections of material and process."
Michael Marriott on Pewter Stool "This stool is determined by the requirements of cutting a mould directly into
sand on a beach, ready to accept molten pewter. What interests me about this piece is that despite the soft, precise
tooling, the finished object looks almost like something you might find in a museum of ethnography i.e. an
ancient Mesoamerican culture, not 21st century Europe."
Keel Series Bench,
Oscar Narud, 2010.
Photo: Nick Moss
Oscar Narud /
Oscar Narud's designs centre around our daily domestic rituals and habits, often drawing inspiration from the
temporary or homemade possibilities of our everyday landscape. Narud's aesthetic is driven by simplicity and
functionality, alongside a keen interest in drawing and making. Simple materials, processes and structural
elements are highlighted and become the focal point of many of his designs. Humour also plays a role in his work,
which he suggests is "an alternative to using expensive materials, processes or excessive styling - increasing the
value but not the cost".
Narud was born in Oslo, and studied at Central St Martins and the Royal College of Art, London. He has worked
for celebrated studios such as El Ultimo Grito and Nigel Coates and is a founding member of the nine-strong
OKAY design collective in North London, from where he runs his practice.
www.oscarnarud.com
Brent Dzekciorius on Keel Series Bench "Narud's modular, slot-leg system utilised in the Keel Series was a
response to traditional Norwegian furniture and inspired by the drop-down keels in small sailboats. The initial
pieces from Keel require the sand cast legs to slot into routed holes in a wooden tabletop. The bench inverts this
relationship. Its iron legs provide housing for the two wooden planks that compose the seat. Fully durable, these
works are equally easy to set up or knock down as many times as needed and provide an intelligent solution for
flat pack shipping or storage in small spaces."
Michael Marriott on Keel Series Bench "By focusing on one of the most ancient engineering principles known to
man, Narud has generated a series of forms that all feed off the nature of wedging. The finished objects hold some
of that direct basic force found in machinery and equipment made during the industrial revolution, and with a
similarly utilitarian vernacular."
MALAYALAM,2009
SEXES, 2012,
Peter Marigold.
Photo: Nick Moss
Peter Marigold /
Working directly with materials, Peter Marigold approaches furniture design as a formal sculptural activity; a
reflection of his previous training as a sculptor and career in theatre scenography: "I am very edgy about letting
other people build my stuff. When it comes to finished objects, I find I fall out of love with them a bit if I didn't
make them". He enjoys exploring the basic qualities of materials, commonly wood, often using reclamation as a
starting point for new ideas and forms: "I live next to this huge source of materials [wood]... If I lived next to a
scrapyard I would probably be more into metal".
Like fellow Raw Craft exhibitors Oscar Narud and Tomás Alonso, Marigold is part of London design collective
OKAY Studio. He designs one-off works as well as pieces for mass production. In 2009 he was awarded one of
the four Designer of the Future awards by Design Miami.
www.petermarigold.com
Brent Dzekciorius on MALAYALAM "Marigold initiated his Palindrome Series as a 2008 Design Miami Designer
of the Future. An innovative use of a traditional box-casting process, the Palindrome Series may represent the first
time a wooden mould has been reincorporated into the final piece. The series successfully highlights the mould's
material qualities, celebrates imperfection, eliminates waste from the process and is a beautiful exploration of
symmetry and negative space in a functional object."
Michael Marriott on MALAYALAM "This cabinet is part of a slightly eccentric, process-driven project titled the
Palindrome Series, which consists of a number of pieces, all made by moulding one half of each piece in
jesmonite, in a wooden mould. The wooden mould is then used to make the other half, making for a slightly offcentred symmetry, in two materials sharing the same surfaces and scars. It's in many ways more like a ceramic
teapot than a piece of furniture, informed by the logic of mould making, slip-casting and how the different
components are assembled."
Side Table for an Apple,
Tomás Alonso, 2011.
Photo: Nick Moss
Tomás Alonso /
When asked to describe his approach to design, Tomás Alonso states that "everything is there because it makes
sense". The designer's work presents solutions for urban, space-starved living, which are minimal, honest and
functional. His work commonly brings together wood and metal, elegantly contrasting both materials, while using
their individual strengths to give his furniture its characteristic adaptability. He cites inspiration from "living life
and observing the people around you; visits to workshops and factories, from small artisan workshops to big
production plants with specialised equipment... if you understand how something is made, you also understand the
potential it has".
Alonso is a co-founder of London design collective OKAY Studio, with fellow graduates from the Royal College
of Art, London, including Peter Marigold and Oscar Narud, also represented in Raw Craft. Alongside his studio
practice, Alonso has worked for Nigel Coates Studio and teaches at ƒCAL, University of Art and Design,
Lausanne.
www.tomas-alonso.com
Brent Dzekciorius on Side Table for an Apple "Alonso's strict minimalist language threads through all of his work
and is visible from his collaborations with Camper, the Spanish shoe company, to his work with the London
Design Museum. His rationally concise and spatially economic Side Table for an Apple is based on a very
simplistic cantilevering principle allowing height adjustments by simply sliding the table top along an aluminium
post. Without any mechanical connection, the top solely relies on its weight to stay in place at any position along
the post. The top can be removed for ease of storage, or to function as a tray."
Michael Marriott on Side Table for an Apple "Everyday physical principles, friction and gravity are the essential
ingredients in this quietly sophisticated side table. A tapered square hole in the top allows you to very easily slide
it to your chosen height. The base and stem are made from an extruded aluminium construction system usually
used to build parts of industrial facilities. This standard system, simply cut to length then anodised in a range of
muted colours, allows bolts to be slid within the square section, affording the knuckle joint at the base."
Wooden Trestles,
Simon Jones, 2010–2012.
Photo: Nick Moss
Simon Jones /
Simon Jones is an architect, designer and maker. He runs a multidisciplinary studio in London and works on a
range of scales, from architecture, to exhibitions, to furniture. He designs buildings and installations to be built by
others, but also has a workshop from which he makes fittings and fixtures for his projects, as well as prototypes
and small production batches of furniture. Inspired by familiar typologies such as the trestle, Jones attempts to
refine or add functionality by making his own versions: "I test, re-make, re-test and re-make until the process and
the piece seem resolved".
Prior to setting up his own practice in 2010, he was a project architect with Tony Fretton Architects and 6a
Architects. He has exhibited his furniture internationally, and is an undergraduate architectural design tutor at
London Metropolitan University.
www.simon-jones.info
Brent Dzekciorius on Wooden Trestle "A trained architect, Jones' adventures in furniture construction take on a
practical approach both for necessity and personal values. These nesting trestles are a significantly more refined
version of an old carpenter's saw horse. Typically cumbersome and inconvenient to navigate or store, Jones'
version is a monumental improvement over the original. Wooden Trestle is designed so it can stack when not in
use, and can be taken apart for flat pack shipping and convenient storage. Jones utilises a basic scissor join, five
lengths of timber and six screws, opting to maintain only the essential parts and affording access to all."
Michael Marriott on Wooden Trestle "Appearing at the same time as an almost random bundle of sticks, as well
as an elegantly poised pure structure, these deceptively simple looking pieces are the result of some years of
revisiting and refining that old workhorse of the utilitarian standby, the trestle. Like the simple wooden chair, it's a
difficult animal to improve upon, having evolved through use and making over hundreds of years. What makes
these stand out is the level of refinement and poetry in their thinking and building."
Plytube Stool,
Seongyong Lee, 2010.
Photo: Nick Moss
Seongyong Lee /
Seongyong Lee's practice is based on a belief that making should be responsible as well as creative. Although
outwardly simple, his designs reveal a profound and highly innovative engagement with materials and process.
Lee particularly rethinks traditional material use and making in his furniture designs. He combines handcrafting
skills and a strong understanding of the principles of mass production: "I wanted to find the right point of contact
between mass production and craft to make the next step in creating a better everyday life". The result lies in
designs that are structurally logical, intuitive to use, and beautiful to look at.
Lee graduated with an MA in Design Products from the Royal College of Art, London, in 2010. His Plytube series
was nominated for Brit Insurance Designs of the Year 2011, and was acquired for the permanent collection at the
Design Museum, London.
www.seongyonglee.com
Brent Dzekciorius on Plytube Stool "Plytube is Lee's RCA graduate project and his first work in wood. Lee's love
of industrial production and respect for craft are well represented in this series. The perfection of the pieces is an
interesting deception, in that they are immaculately crafted handworks rather than industrial products, a common
first impression. Inspired by standard cardboard tubing and its construction principles, Plytube is an incredible
innovation as both architectural material and furniture design. The series defines a new language of joinery
alongside deftly crafted veneers and stacked laminations. The pieces are lightweight but sacrifice nothing in
strength. A fully functional Plytube Stool weighs a mere 820g, an impeccably economic use of material."
Michael Marriott on Plytube Stool "Inspired after investigating the manufacture of cardboard tubes, these pieces
are in a way illustrations of the potential of a new type of sub-material: plywood tubes. Made in the same way as
card ones, but laboriously handcrafted with some simple but sophisticated and ingenious thinking and jig making.
This marks a new type of craft making inspired by industrial machinery and ingenuity."