William Warren

London based product and furniture designer
Posts Tagged ‘bodge’

Attempts to revisit the trug

I organised a group of designers to examine the craft of Sussex Trug making this year. To start with a few of us went to visit John Carnell, one of the last remaining trug makers in Sussex who still makes trugs the traditional way. My visit to John can be read about here.

Following our introduction into the craft, a few of us developed new concepts that tie in with Trugs. These images show the pretty little DIY trug designed by…

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CNC windsor

Following lots of interesting projects relating to traditional English Windsor chairs, I thought it would be interesting to see what would happen if I tried to make a windsor using more up to date materials.

The windsor chair is not a ‘designed’ piece of furniture. Rather it is an evolved set of rules and solutions that have grown from the raw materials of green timber (freshly cut), simple hand tools and traditional craft techniques and the demanding requirements of strength and…

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The Elves and the Chairmakers

One factory, 5 Designers, and 2 days.

On a sleepy weekend in early June this year, five designers visited the famous Lloyd Loom of Spalding factory. Whilst the assembly workers were away, and assisted by two of Lloyd Loom’s loyal craftsmen, the designers with no set agenda, helped themselves to standard components, experimented and reinterpreted. Over the intense and frantic two days, thirteen new concepts were conceived and left in the factory showroom for the staff to find on Monday morning.

The…

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upholstered sunray chair

This is an extremely comfortable arm chair for prolonged sitting. It is ideal for use in waiting areas or in places to relax, such as conservatories or librariarys.

The chair has a seat made from a single plank of Ash, carved into a comfortable bottom shape. Like the Sunray chair designed at the same time, the seat’s spindles all run into the lower rails of the chair, rather than the seat block, as they would in a traditional windsor chair. The back…

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sunray chair

The direct development from the chair originally made in the woods for the Bodging Milano project, this is a traditionally constructed windsor chair in ash, with a carved seat, spindles and a steam bent back bow.

The spindles in the back do not run into the seat block, but instead fan out from the lower back rail giving a sun rise effect. The top of the seat has nothing joining into it, allowing the curve back and seat to sit comfortably together…

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Cov Bodge

As a direct development of the Bodging Milano project, the same nine designers were invited to traditional chair manufacturers Sitting Firm in coventry. The designers were given the run of the factory for three days and allowed access to the well stocked stores of component parts and the specialist chair making equipment.

In the three days, I managed to produce three chairs; two armchairs of the same design and a dining seat.

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