John Makepeace     Furniture Designer and Maker

21st Century Furniture II -
The Arts & Crafts Legacy

A Selling Exhibition of Recent Works by Today's Furniture Designer Makers

Sunday 28th March - Sunday 24th April 2010
at The Millinery Works, Islington

John Makepeace will showcase his work at the exhibition featuring his dining table, Vault (see image to the right). Vault articulates the extraordinary properties of indigenous ash as a structural material. Liberated from the rectilinear forms predicated by traditional industrial processes, here the principles of sculpture, science and structural engineering in timber merge.

Exhibition opening times -
Tuesday to Saturday 11am-6pm and Sunday 12-5pm (closed over Easter)
The Millinery Works Gallery
87 Southgate Road, Islington, London, N1 3JS
0207 359 2019

National Gardens Scheme - Open Garden Days
Beaminster, June-August 2010

6th June, 25th July & 29th August
at Farrs, Beaminster, Dorset

John and Jennie Makepeace will be welcoming people to their gardens in Beaminster on a series of open days to support the charity, National Garden Scheme.

Visitors will recognise John as a talented furniture designer and maker but they may not realise that he also is a talented garden designer. His newly built Bridge Garden combines grasses and other architectural plants in a secret but dramatic retreat.

Opening times
6th June, 25th July & 29th August; 11am to 5pm
Farrs, Beaminster, Dorset, DT8 3NB

See the NGS web site - , for further information.

John Makepeace speech at American Furniture Society conference

18th June 2010

John Makepeace will be addressing an audience of leading furniture makers and designers in the United States in Boston on 18th June. The conference is entitled Fusions - Minds and Hands, Shaping Our Future.

His provocative presentation will encourage the more intelligent and sustainable use of indigenous timbers, always a 'hot potato' in the States where exotic materials are still used as a status symbol.

More information can be found on the The American Furniture Society's web site - .

John Makepeace -
Enriching the Language of Furniture

From 18th September 2010 to November 2011

A landmark retrospective exhibition of the work of John Makepeace will be launched in September. Sponsored by the Arts Council, it shows John's furniture over the 50 years of his career. Co-ordinated by the Devon Guild of Craftsmen, the exhibition will tour major galleries across the UK throughout 2011.

The show will bring together prominent pieces borrowed from important national and private collections along with new limited edition works by John available for sale.

After its opening at the Devon Guild, the show will go on a national tour to spaces including the Harley Gallery, Nottinghamshire, the Crafts Study Centre, Surrey and Somerset House, London.

Each venue has been selected to provide a dramatic setting for John's most unique pieces, such as the Phoenix chair and Ripple chest. The latter, for example, is considered important by the way the surface pattern breaks through to the surface of the timber.

The exhibition aims to present John's design journey and contextualise his influence as a designer, teacher and ambassador for the crafts. Visitors will learn not only about the diverse range of this maker's output, but also his pioneering educational initiative at Parnham College and Hooke Park in Dorset.

There will be a comprehensive catalogue, a film, tools and wood-working samples, craft-based activities and educational displays. The collection provides a rare opportunity to learn about the man behind the furniture.

Tour Dates

John Makepeace: Enriching the Language of Furniture

18 Sep - 29 Oct 2010	The Devon Guild of Craftsmen, Bovey Tracey, Devon, TQ13 9AF
7 Nov 2010 - 1 Jan 2011	Harley Gallery, Worksop, Rotherham, S80 3LW
14 Jan - 5 March 2011	Collins Gallery, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, G1 1XQ
16 March - 15 April	Somerset House, London
25 April - 16 July 2011	Crafts Study Centre, Farnham, Surrey, GU9 7DS
10 Sept - Nov 2011	Lotherton Hall, Aberford, Leeds, LS25 3EB

For all press and media enquiries please contact -
Sara Hudston, Watershed, Bridport, Dorset -

For further information about the tour and its hire, please go to or contact -
(Exhibitions Officer, The Devon Guild of Craftsmen)
The Devon Guild of Craftsmen, Riverside Mill, Bovey Tracey, Devon TQ13 9AF
01626 832223

The Devon Guild of Craftsmen is a contemporary craft gallery and Membership organisation supporting South West makers. It incorporates an educational charity which provides professional development, education and learning opportunities. Their mission is: "to educate and develop further understanding of contemporary crafts through running events, activities and an exciting exhibitions programme, including touring exhibitions".

A Devon Guild of Craftsmen touring exhibition, generously funded by Arts Council England.

Leading south coast solicitors Steele Raymond LLP are the Corporate Sponsors -