Colin Semple Furniture Design. Portfolio of Work

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Colin Semple Furniture Design. Portfolio of Work"

Philomena Reynolds
5 years ago
Views:

1 Colin Semple Furniture Design Portfolio of Work

2 About Me... For longer than I can remember I have loved working with wood. I have pursued this interest as a part time hobby but recently decided to focus on furniture making on a full time basis. I have a passion for innovative, original design and love working on projects large and small. I am based in Peebles in the Scottish Borders. Colin

3 Portfolio of Work This portfolio captures a range of projects completed in 2012 and It is a diverse range of work encompassing solid wood furniture, veneered pieces, carving, woodturning, gilding, stained glass work, upholstery and restoration. This is just a snapshot of my work. If you are interested in seeing what I am currently working on, please have a look at my website:

4 Rocking Chair in Rippled Sycamore I love a good rocking chair but find that they invariably tend to have a traditional appearance. The aim of this project was to develop an original, contemporary chair that had all the attributes of a good rocking chair. I liked the rib idea but early sketches appeared too harsh and angular. I found that making the back egg shaped softened the appearance significantly. I wanted to ensure the chair was comfortable, so did a lot of research and prototyping on seat and back shapes. For the rockers, I wanted them to be oversized to give a bit of flare - the idea for this came from a Sam Maloof design. I felt the lightness of sycamore enhanced the contemporary look and the wood selected had a great ripple which shows up fantastically well in the finished piece. Photos: Original Model (top) Forming the Back (middle) Assembling the Chair (bottom) Finished Product (opposite)

6 The Great Wave Table This piece was inspired by a classic Japanese print The Great Wave off Kanagawa. I thought it would make an excellent image for a marquetry top, with the design repeating and the waves flowing into the next panel. The top is made with fiddleback mahogany, yew, sycamore and burr walnut veneers and is edged in a solid ring of olive ash.! For the legs, the wave theme continues with a 3 cycle wave in a circular form. This is finished in olive ash veneer. A discreet drawer is located under the table top. Photos: Japanese Print The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Hokusai (top) Forming the Legs (middle) Assembling the Veneered Table Top (bottom) The Finished Table (opposite)

The Apprentice Box Intended as a means of demonstrating proficiency with different techniques, the apprentice box is a hand dovetailed box with a marquetry design on top, boulle work inside the lid

8 The Apprentice Box Intended as a means of demonstrating proficiency with different techniques, the apprentice box is a hand dovetailed box with a marquetry design on top, boulle work inside the lid and containing 5 panels featuring marquetry, oyster work, leather work, stained glass and gilding. The marquetry design on the box lid is based on a view of Schiehallion & Loch Rannoch. Photos: Stained Glass Boulle Work Oyster Work Marquetry Design Oval Fan Leather Work

9 Finished Box (left) Inside of Box with Panels (Right)

10 The Gilded Mirror My original idea was to base the mirror on an element of architecture. After looking into a few options, a church door seemed to offer the right shape and some interesting detail to include. The design is loosely based on an ornate door in Kilpeck Church in Herefordshire. The frame was made from lime wood (ideal for subsequent carving). The shaping on the semi-circular top section was done by router. The detail was then carved in lime wood. The whole frame was then covered with 5 layers of gesso, then clay in preparation for gilding. The details were gilded with the background filled in with with pearlised paint. Photos: Kilpeck Church Door (top) Carving Detail (middle) Applying Gesso and Clay Prior to Gilding (bottom) The Finished Mirror (opposite)

The Windsor Chair The Windsor chair is a traditional design with a solid wooden seat into which the chair back and leg components are inserted (in contrast to standard chairs where the back legs are

12 The Windsor Chair The Windsor chair is a traditional design with a solid wooden seat into which the chair back and leg components are inserted (in contrast to standard chairs where the back legs are continuous). The origins of the chair are not clear, but they have been made in the same way for several hundred years. The chair is made out of ash with turned legs and arm supports. The curved components are steam bent (ensures strength is not lost) and the seat base is sculpted using hand tools. Photos: Rounding Stretcher Components (top) Marking out the Arm Bow (middle) Turned Legs and Arm Supports (bottom) The Finished Chair (opposite)

14 Other Work The following pages show smaller scale projects and encompass a variety of techniques complementary to woodworking. Hopefully these techniques demonstrate the range of skills that can be used in many different ways to create beautiful furniture. Photos: Barley Twist Candle Stick in Cedar (left) Shaker Box in Steam Bent Ash with a Spalted Beech Lid (right)

16 Restoration encompasses a huge range of techniques. Examples shown are Grandfather Clock Before & After (top) Oak Chair Repaired & Upholstered Before & After (bottom)

17 Turning: A selection of turned bowls in Burr Elm (top), Elm (bottom left) and Yew (bottom right)

18 Frames: Mirror Frame in Spalted Elm (left) Picture Frame in Oak Reclaimed from Dunfermline Abbey Pew (right)

19 Carving: Acanthus Leaf Being Carved (top), Prepared for Gilding (middle) and Finished (bottom) Carved Lion s Face (right)

20 The Hourglass Bookcase: Made from 100 year old pine floor boards removed during alterations. The bookcase is functional but also ensures that wood that has been part of the house since it was built is retained.

21 Kitchen Door: A door for a bespoke kitchen made from rippled sycamore with a carved handle. Finish is shellac and water based lacquer.

22 Upholstery: Pictures above show the stages of a seat base being upholstered

23 Portfolio of Work I hope you have enjoyed looking through my work. I am always looking for new ideas and designs and my latest work can be seen on my website:

24 Colin Semple Furniture Design Portfolio Copyright Colin Semple 2013

NEW DESIGNS NEW FEATURES. Oracle THE COLLECTION BOARDROOM FURNITURE

NEW DESIGNS NEW FEATURES. Oracle THE COLLECTION BOARDROOM FURNITURE NEW DESIGNS NEW FEATURES THE Oracle COLLECTION BOARDROOM FURNITURE Eborcraft's latest Oracle collection takes boardroom furniture to a new level. A greater choice of beautiful wood veneers, including such