Course History
I finished taking commissions in 2001 after completing more than 400 commissions or repeat orders from private clients.
I felt it was time to call a halt. As a student you will appreciate the value of being taught by someone who has actually succeeded in the market place. The methods and style of working that I pass on are those that get the work done quickly. There are some very high prices on some of the pieces made today and I fear that some are the result of a very amateurish approach. In other words the techniques of construction are so laboured, the price therefore so high that the customers will be sent running.
Since 1974 I have been teaching with a passion which is only surpassed by my concern for my family. Over 100 full time students have passed through Ashridge. I have helped many to some remarkably high standards of work as shown here.
In my early years I had found much to inspire me in the work of such makers as the Barnsleys from the English Arts and Crafts movement. 25 years later I was proud to see one of my students, Stephen Lamont, both teaching and making at the Barnsley Trust. I have referred to Andrew Coldrey’s work elsewhere and there have been many other successes. However, I am as pleased to remember Robert Parrington-Jackson, who I think would not mind me saying, was cast from a quite different mould and found the discipline of the craft at times too much. Some years later he sent me a letter to tell me that he was making fine furniture under a Banyan tree in central India, where his only problems were a permanent audience of children and the bird droppings in his workspace each morning.
Teachers may be paid for their work but – for me at least – it is not the monetary reward, but knowing that for each the struggle to succeed was worthwhile. Robert’s obvious pleasure gave me a great lift. Hence, having concentrated on producing for many years, I now focus on the teaching. Overall, this change has produced a very positive and less monastic environment.
As a student you will appreciate the value of being taught by someone who has actually succeeded in the market place
Teachers may be paid for their work but – for me at least – it is not the monetary reward, but knowing that for each the struggle to succeed was worthwhile.