This is about my teaching at Queen Elizabeth Studio School, Kirkby Lonsdale.
I’m loving being back in the classroom and it’s immensely satisfying to see pupils developing skills, gaining satisfaction from their work and becoming increasingly focused on careful measurement, accurate cuts and well-planned assembly.
Their enthusiasm also means that it’s hard to satisfy their timber needs because they consume wood voraciously. The price of timber has doubled since 2019 so it is impressive that the School continues to support Design & Technology and Engineering in the curriculum.
We have finished bird boxes which used timber from old pallets and a few offcuts of oak and sapele have made some nice carpenter’s mallets with laminated handles. Now they are about to start their first piece of furniture.
This is a classic side table with flap down leaves, it’s deliberately chunky so that it will withstand plenty of abuse. The hinged top rotates to support the leaves and the angled legs add stability but will also create some interesting making problems. I feel sure we will end up with angles cut the wrong way so there may be a few stools going home instead of tables!
This is a large project in terms of materials and so we are really grateful that Duffield Timber have stepped in so generously to provide all the timber for this project. Duffield Timber are the largest supplier of hardwood in the North of England and the biggest supplier of wood for bespoke painted kitchens in the UK. They are very generous with their knowledge and a great team who are always welcoming when I go over to Ripon where they are based.
So a really big Thank You to Joe, Sam and the whole team for their help.
I’ll let you know how the project progresses.
Andrew Fleck Furniture Design 