We met Chris Eckersley last year 2013 and were immediately impressed with his credentials. Chris is passionate about design and we are thrilled to be working with him on a number of projects including our lighting range. Chris has journeyed to Suffolk twice now and is close to completing one of his designs that he has designed and hand forged and which will be revealed at London Design Week this September 2014.
Chris has been constantly at the top with his designs especially his Tromé Bench. ‘The Trombé bench was shortlisted for the 2002 Homes and Gardens / V&A Classic Design Awards, and at the glittering ceremony at the V&A won two of the three awards, including The Prince’s Medal, presented by Prince Charles.
We have taken Chris’s words from his website to give a complete picture of how diverse and interesting he is.
‘Originally I studied Sculpture and then on graduating set up a little design-and-make furniture workshop. After a few years this grew like Topsy and I ended up with nearly a dozen employees. We made one-off pieces, fitted furniture, and large architectural cabinets for a company in New York.
In my spare time I made abstract sculpture.
Later I did an MA in Design Studies at Central Saint Martins, where I became a Visiting Tutor. By this time I’d built up a network of cabinetmakers and small manufacturers for whom I worked as a freelance designer. This freed me up to be able to spend more time developing new art and design work, which I exhibited widely – and still do.
More recently, after temporarily moving to deepest Herefordshire, I went ‘bodging’ (or greenwood chair-making) which led on toBodging Milano and many other craft-based projects and fruitful collaborations with other designers.
I’ve lived in various parts of the country, from Cornwall to North Yorkshire, but home is beloved Birmingham.’
To see more about Chris and view his designs here is a link to his website.