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John Makepeace OBE

  • BIOGRAPHY
  • WORKS
  • Installation Shots
  • STORIES
  • BIOGRAPHY

    John Makepeace OBE is internationally regarded as one of Britain’s most influential designer-makers. He was an early proponent of material innovation and sustainability, setting up the acclaimed Parnham College for furniture designers in 1976 and initiating Hooke Park in 1982, as a School for Woodland Industries and Forestry Management.  John was a founding member of the Crafts Council UK in 1975, and from 1987–91 was a trustee of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. He was awarded an OBE in 1988 for his services to furniture design and in 2004, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Furniture Society. In 2012, his work was included in the UK’s Victoria & Albert Museum exhibition British Design 1948–2012: Innovation in the Modern Age. He was the Winner of the UK’s Prince Philip Designers Prize in 2016. John’s work is part of major museum, corporate and private collections around the world, including the Victoria & Albert Museum, UK; the Museum fur Kunsthanwerk, Germany; the Art Institute of Chicago, USA; the Fitzwilliam Museum, UK; Birmingham, Cardiff and Leeds City Galleries; The Royal Scottish Museum, UK; Plymouth University, UK; Templeton and Keble College Oxford, UK; and the Banque General du Luxembourg. He has also exhibited at international art fairs including FOG, PAD London and Masterpiece.
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    His Embrace collection and Trine series, specially created for the gallery, reflects his interest in organic aesthetics. These three-legged chairs, which appear enigmatically balanced, are structured using internal metal connections adapted from ground-breaking NASA technology, first developed to join enormous wooden blades to the central metal hub of a Hawaiian wind generator. John highlights the innate beauty of the material by layering 13 laminates of English Oak, polished back to expose the cross-grain pattern achieved through the substrata. This exquisite patina is further enlivened by scorching the wood to a lustrous finish. He comments that, ‘I have been looking at ways to express the luxury of solid timber by sculpting the material, working it as a potter might work clay.’

     

    John also supports an exciting programme at the V&A, Make Good: Rethinking Material Futures, which invites practitioners from different disciplines ranging from science, design, forestry and academia to share research, knowledge and skills. Make Good is a 10-year project that encompasses an annual display, symposium and programme of acquisitions dedicated to looking at the use of renewable, natural materials and the future of sustainable forestry in connection to design and architecture. The programme encourages ideas of stewardship of natural resources and considers the responsibilities of designers and consumers towards the natural world in a time of climate crisis.

  • WORKS
    • John Makepeace OBE Strokes, 2023 Oak, Ash, Drawers lined in scented Lebanon cedar, grown in the UK
      John Makepeace OBE
      Strokes, 2023
      Oak, Ash, Drawers lined in scented Lebanon cedar, grown in the UK
    • John Makepeace OBE Scorched Embrace Collection, 2022 Oak
      John Makepeace OBE
      Scorched Embrace Collection, 2022
      Oak
    • John Makepeace OBE Trine Cloud Chair IV, 2021 Scorched oak
      John Makepeace OBE
      Trine Cloud Chair IV, 2021
      Scorched oak
    • John Makepeace OBE Trine Club Chair II, 2020 Scorched oak
      John Makepeace OBE
      Trine Club Chair II, 2020
      Scorched oak
    • John Makepeace OBE Trine Club Chair I, 2020 Scorched oak
      John Makepeace OBE
      Trine Club Chair I, 2020
      Scorched oak
    • John Makepeace OBE Trine Chair: The Organic Series , 2017/18 Scorched Oak
      John Makepeace OBE
      Trine Chair: The Organic Series , 2017/18
      Scorched Oak
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  • Installation Shots
    Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: FOG, 2023
    Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Masterpiece, 2022
    Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Masterpiece, 2022
    Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: PAD London, 2022
    Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: FOG, 2022
    Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: FOG, 2022
    Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: Collect, 2022
    Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: The Tithe Barn event, 2022
    Open a larger version of the following image in a popup: John polishes back English Oak to expose the complex cross-grain pattern of the wood, combining the beauty of the material witih NASA technology to create enigmatically balanced furniture
    FOG, 2023
  • STORIES

    • John Makepeace OBE & Sarah Myerscough
      Video entries

      John Makepeace OBE & Sarah Myerscough

      We are delighted to present the sixth in our series of Crafted Conversations talks between artist John Makepeace OBE and Sarah Myerscough. John Makepeace OBE is internationally regarded as one...
    • John Makepeace OBE & Emma Crichton-Miller, Make Good: Rethinking Material Futures
      Video entries

      John Makepeace OBE & Emma Crichton-Miller

      Make Good: Rethinking Material Futures
    • John Makepeace OBE & Marc Fish, Crafted Conversation
      Video entries

      John Makepeace OBE & Marc Fish

      Crafted Conversation June 25, 2021
    • Seeing the forest for the trees : New Directions in Sustainable Design , John Makepeace OBE with Glenn Adamson and...
      Video entries

      Seeing the forest for the trees : New Directions in Sustainable Design

      John Makepeace OBE with Glenn Adamson and Johanna Agerman Ross March 10, 2022
      Our latest Webinar is hosted by critic, curator and author Glenn Adamson in discussion with Johanna Agerman Ross of the V&A and John Makepeace OBE about the evolving relationship between...

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SARAH MYERSCOUGH GALLERY

+44 (0) 20 7495 0069

34 North Row, London  W1K 6DH

Mon - Fri 10am - 6pm  /  Sat  11am - 4pm

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