Jim Partridge & Liz Walmsley
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Jim Partridge and Liz Walmsley have worked together designing and making furniture and other functional woodwork for 38 years. Jim trained at the John Makepeace School for Craftsmen in wood (1977—79) then established a career in woodturning. After completing a degree in education Liz worked in a studio pottery from 1973 to 1977. Since 1986 they have worked together designing and making furniture and other functional woodwork. The scope of their work ranges from the small and domestic to monumental, site specific pieces. Initially they worked on outdoor projects building public seats, shelters and footbridges. Over the years their practice has broadened to include work in the built environment, creating furniture for new galleries, hospitals and other public and private spaces. In parallel with the commissioned work their studio furniture has been widely exhibited. This speculative, experimental work has been away to develop ideas about the nature of furniture, woodwork and place. In 2023 they were both awarded MBEs for services to design.
Their studio furniture, much of which is carved from blocks of green oak and often scorched and polished to a lustrous black finish, regularly appears in exhibitions and is in public collections across the world, including the V&A in London, the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge and Manchester Art Gallery. Their work has twice been shortlisted for the Jerwood Furniture prize. In 2019 they were selected as one of 29 finalists from a field of over 2,500 international entries for the Loewe Craft Prize and exhibited in Tokyo, Japan.
They have always said that their intention was to make “work with a strong but quiet presence in the landscape”. This statement remains true, even though they have broadened that landscape to include built environments. Projects include an altar for Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford, seats for Compton Verney Art Gallery, RHS Wisley and Warwick University, furniture for Ruthin Crafts Centre, a bridge in North Wales and the large Ridgeons seat in CB1 Cambridge. More recently they designed work for the Harley Gallery at Welbeck, Nottinghamshire involved a redesign of the reception area, seating for inside and outside the new gallery to house the Portland collection, and outdoor cafe furniture.
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Works
Jim Partridge & Liz Walmsley
Rocking Chair, 2022Oak127 H x 43 W x 67 D cm
50 H x 16.9 W x 26.38 D InFurther images
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