John Makepeace OBE

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.