There was a time when Furniture Desiger Making was an exciting field. It could have evolved in to a fantastically creative practice. Fred Baier walked a solitary path, Alan Peters made great work, John Makepeace was prolific. Others, Jez Broun, Rupert Williamson, Richard La Trobe Bateman came along all with new angles.
A second generation followed. Waywood were and still are amazing. David Savage followed the Makepeace route in plagueristic manner. Craft over came art and a terrible wave is still in motion.
Why no one looked to the magnificent architecture this country was producing, the great art that made London the centre of the art world one can only guess at. Perhaps a defiance born of the Brian Sewell school of thought that valued skill over thought, a hunger for craft in a time of mass production. Awful lumpen objects that bore no relevance to anything other than its own self importance. This is truly a terrible time for fine craft furniture.
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