Meetings of the Fellowship

Join Tim Walton, Chairman of the Carpenters’ Fellowship, as he shares an engaging overview of traditional timber framing and the role of his Fellowship in supporting this craft.

Tim will also discuss how the Fellowship connects clients with skilled timber framers to ensure quality craftsmanship and successful projects. With real-world examples, he’ll highlight the importance of choosing experienced professionals and the benefits they bring.

Derry will talk about his life a furniture restorer, including working for Apter-Fredericks, world leading dealers and experts in eighteenth century English furniture.

Paul Sellers describes himself as a lifelong amateur woodworker. His journey in woodworking began in a small joiner’s workshop in Stockport, England in 1965, but he spent a large part of his working life in the USA where he taught woodworking courses.

Paul’s hard work and love of the craft resulted in his designs furnishing the homes of President Bush and Senator Gramm. Two of his pieces also grace the Cabinet Room of the White House as part of the Permanent Collection.

In 2009, Paul moved back to the UK and since then he has launched his highly popular YouTube channel.

Oil Plus 2C is a true oil of Rubio's newest generation thanks to its revolutionary binding. The product molecularly bonds with the wood fibres in the surface to be treated and thus protects and colours the wood in a single layer. This avoids overlaps and marks, and brings low consumption and long-lasting protection.

Hampshire Rustic Furniture are more than just a business – they are a small family-run endeavor with a passion for crafting quality and affordable furniture. Each piece they create is lovingly handcrafted with utmost care and attention to detail.

Hampshire Rustic Furniture's commitment to excellence begins with the materials they select, choosing only the finest to ensure the durability and longevity of their creations. From the initial design to the final stroke of sanding, every step is taken with precision and love, resulting in furniture that stands out for its exquisite craftsmanship.

Jamie has been making tuned percussion instruments for over twenty five years. He gained an HND in Instrument Technology at The London College of Furniture in 1988 and then won a three year research grant from the Leverhulme Trust which enabled him to travel widely in Africa and Indonesia where he studied alongside the most skilled instrument makers. He completed a PhD in Music Instrument Technology in 1995 at The London Guildhall University: "The Manufacture of Tuned Percussion Instruments in Indonesia and Africa - A Selective Study".

This unique background of training in the practical skills of instrument making alongside African and Indonesian instrument makers, coupled with an academic knowledge of acoustics and instrument construction, enables Jamie to make strong and beautiful instruments which sound fantastic and continue an acoustic instrument making tradition. 

Gather started with a desire to do things differently, forged by the idea that the furniture industry could just be done better. Their furniture is all made within 60 miles of the customer's location, which they achieve by having a network of independent makers across the country.

Derek Jones began working with antique furniture at the age of fourteen as a Saturday boy in a restoration workshop in Brighton. What followed was a couple of decades of design and commercial manufacture within the industry for retail customers and end users. Nearly forty years later, and the skills acquired back in that little workshop have become an important part of his working methodology today; good construction and a careful choice of materials with a nod to the past.

As editor of the UK’s premier woodworking magazine, Furniture & Cabinetmaking (2008- 2018), Derek Jones managed to combine his flare for making with a passion for sharing a range of skills that if not practiced might one day no longer be part of our lives. Time spent making things by hand today is perhaps the single most important investment we can make for our future. Make things well and build them to last using materials and techniques that complement our natural resources.