The torii table actually began life as a trolley. Made for a house full of wonderful art, built to carry tea from room to room. We liked it too much to leave it at that.
The form is drawn from two sources: the elegant threshold structures of Japanese torii gates and the broad proportions of 18th-century English tea trays.
The canted edge of the recessed trays inspired a tiered table. From there, the table evolved into architectural shelves with flush solid oak surfaces.
We may have an idea where it's going next.
#alwaysoutoftheordinary
Seeing how something is made changes the way you look at it. Often the way you look at everything else too.
On 6 June we're opening the workshop as part of the Woodland Heritage Open Woods & Workshops programme. Come and see how our furniture and lighting are made from start to finish, handle the antiques that inspire the work, and meet the team.
We'd love to see you. Tickets and details at the link in bio.
#alwaysoutoftheordinary
Britain was once almost entirely forested. Today it's one of the world's largest importers of timber.
The milk table is our response to that. Six pieces turned from rare, thick sections of native elm, chestnut and sycamore – a form borrowed from the old dairy stool, in timbers that deserve to be back at the centre of meaningful design.
We've loved watching an idea move from a scribble to the bench, and from the bench to magazine pages and Substacks. Thank you! So pleased you've taken to them too.
Two sizes | elm, chestnut and sycamore
#alwaysoutoftheordinary
Thank you @houseandgardenuk and @homesandinteriorsmag
We talk about balance a lot - it’s kind of everything. It suits everyone and everything.
I’ve just seen this project coming through (a fantastic twin-cruciform Fotheringhay table) and thought it does a great job of balancing a lot - I’ve elaborated a little below.
It is possible to create and possess something incredibly beautiful, practical, meaningful and valuable without leaving anyone or anything shorthanded.
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High quality timber and making ensure the table will stay strong for hundreds of years, so at least another two oak trees have time to grow before a replacement table is needed.
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The design balances weight evenly, so material stress is kept to a minimum, increasing longevity and minimising any repair.
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The design balances aesthetics with performance, being visually spacious, while giving complete freedom for chairs, knees and legs.
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It balances resources - making only necessary components (no embellishment) keeps production processes to a minimum, conserves energy, and renders the components valuable for a different purpose in the future.
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Oak is renewable, recyclable and biodegradable, so if well-managed and sustainably harvested, takes nothing from the natural world and keeps nature in balance.
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Well-made, solid oak furniture is infinitely repairable and becomes richer and more valuable with time, so your bank account remains balanced!
This morning Camilla watched a preview of my April reel and when she saw this table pop up she said ‘ooooh, people are going to want to see more of that’, so here it is. We’ve made several before, at different sizes, but not with our ebony finish - it’s become an ‘objet’ as well as a table! Beautiful little thing.
A p r i l r o u n d - u p
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Spring is everywhere you look, and always more spectacular, invigorating and reassuring than you remember. Camilla and I began the month all wrapped up on the Dorset coast, and ended it in shorts and shades on our first trip to Dublin.
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In tandem with the season, we made a JP White garden seat the first of our studies series - a new project which will highlight the work of some wonderful, lesser-known makers.
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We’ve also been creating a new website - pouring everything we’ve learned over the last ten years into somewhere we hope you’ll find everything you’d like to know about us, and everything you need to commission and care for a Matthew Cox piece. If you’d like to trial the website and send us any feedback before it’s published, we’d love to hear from you! Equally, once it’s up and running (launch date May 20th🤞) please have a click around and send us any thoughts. We’ll have way more scope to update our new site, so let us know if there’s something missing that you’d like to see 🙏🏻
The sun shone so brightly in Dublin today, we closed our eyes and lay on the Trinity College lawn, muttering that we’d try to see Book of Kells Experience tomorrow instead. In front of us, mirage-like, was Trinity’s Museum Building - a Byzantine style nineteenth century Palazzo. This is not the Dublin I was expecting! Normal service will be resumed tomorrow - a forecast for cloud and a visit to the Guinness storehouse planned.
The tranquility of yesterday’s evening sun on our oak garden seat. Designed by John Parish White in 1896, the peacock seat is the first in our series of studies of seminal designs, which will form part of our made to measure furniture and lighting collection.
I’ve learned of many wonderful and relatively unsung makers during my thirty years in the antiques trade, and now we have an exceptional workshop of our own, it’s a perfect opportunity to emulate their craft and introduce it to a new audience.
I just had to snap these vesper lights on the packing room table - they looked just SO good. And seriously chocolaty - even more than I imagined they could when we named the finish ‘chocolate’. A credit to their kind!
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#brass #patina #metalfinishing #lighting #walllights
Think yourself lucky if you don’t have room for a big old kitchen island, because then you can have a beautiful prep table. A properly practical piece of furniture made for perching, prepping and paraphernalia.
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#britishcraft #100yearplan
