Arts & Crafts Inspired
The Arts and Crafts movement in Britain can be characterised by “traditional craftsmanship using simple forms, and often applied medieval, romantic or folk styles of decoration” (wiki). For 20 years I lived in the Yorkshire Dales National park in the Northwest of England, where the tradition of that folk style flourished. During that time I taught furniture making and designed and built my own work. Rather than copy Arts & Crafts designs verbatim, I instead took the spirit of that philosophy and developed my own designs and styles. Below is a sampling of the Arts & Crafts-inspired work that I built there.
To see images of my smallholding and workshop in Dentdale, click here.
This sink unit shares the same awkward proportions as the 16th century Yorkshire Dales farmhouse in which it resides. I think it also complements the Aga well. It is made from English Oak and American Cherry.
Rivling
For 10 years, I lived with my family in a renovated knitting factory on the River Dee in Cowgill, upper Dentdale (circled in photo). We bought 5 acres and 2 barns (the box in the photo) and converted them into a smallholding with bees, hens, sheep, geese and workshops for making furniture and sculpture. (This photo is taken from the Dent Railway Station on the Settle-Carlisle Line.)
Here is Rivling, just before haytime
...and the entrance gate where I copied the rock pattern in the stone wall for the centre panel.
This was my workshop in the old stable of the main barn.
This was Billy, who live in the farmhouse at Rivling. At 84 years old, he still walked the fells, tended the neighbours' sheep, and rode his bike 9 hilly miles into town and back for provisions and gossip