creative spaces :: tom raffield - confessions of a design geek

This article was published 13 years

I have been a fan of Tom Raffield‘s work for as long as I’ve known anything about design. I think I first came across his work the very first time I went to 100{ff546b69e23b1524d799f96c6ba7a638e1f677053b0a2a1568b05315fd5f8fc7} Design, a long time before I started writing this blog, and he’s one of the designers I interviewed for my book. I knew he was based in Cornwall, but I recently discovered that the new studio he’s built is just around the corner from where I stay when I go down there – so I had to go and have a look!

Tom bought his family home more for the forest it sits within than the building itself. Having invented a new steam bending technique when he was a student at Falmouth University, he dreamt of having a studio in the forest, so he could cultivate his own trees and manage the design and making process from beginning to end. Not only has he done just that, but the team built the studio themselves from the trees it’s surrounded by. The making process needs little explanation when you walk through the space – trees go in one end and finished products come out the other. It’s incredible not only to see a whole making process in one place from raw material to showroom, but to see it surrounded by the living, breathing trees that Tom cares for and is so inspired by is really inspirational.

Further reading for the especially geeky:

Further eye candy for the especially visual:

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