Since 1990
Wooden Hand Made & fitted Furniture
Designed and made by woodworker & carpenter Simon White……
our story
I have always loved travelling and spent some extended time in India and Greece, and a short time in Africa. I have been fascinated by the Ancient Greek and Roman civilizations since childhood, giving me a love of classical forms.
My design influences & ideas began as a child watching my mother buying and selling antiques and spending time in salerooms observing all the different types of woods, designs and decorative details throughout many different periods - Victorian, Edwardian, Art Nouveau …all sorts to wonder at when a child and young adult….I am very enamoured by the many traditional elegant designs that I saw so much in those days. I now really enjoy working with solid woods - the transformation of a simple plank into a functional & practical as well as aesthetically pleasing object is immensely rewarding - making, planning & designing the furniture particularly choosing the combinations of woods & thinking carefully about shapes, joining & details such as handles & dowels is endlessly varied & very satisfying.
Photo: Getty Villa Malibu/The Getty Garden, Robert Irwin, Los Angeles California
I trained as a carpenter, attaining a City and Guilds qualification in 1990 and then honed my woodworking skills by running a small but busy fitted furniture business in London and the South East (Made to Measure Furniture) all the while taking further furniture making courses & getting to know & experimenting with many different woods & techniques. I was commissioned to make a huge variety of pieces - bookcases, wardrobes, bathroom, kitchen and library units of both basic and more intricate designs in addition to small pieces of furniture. As with many professions each project is a learning opportunity - carpentry, like other crafts, is a life long process of learning and re-examination.
Whilst I still continue to offer the fitted furniture service, m
y growing appreciation for the beauty and sustainability of natural woods has led me on this new journey….and opening
Attic Gallery handmade furniture has enabled me to entirely design my own work as well as transition to using more natural solid woods to create pieces that will last and encourage others to embrace the beauty of wood…
Designing in the studio
The workshop
My mothers family have lived in Dorset for generations and we moved here to care for her in her final years, having been visitors all our lives. She lived in Bournmouth throughout her childhood, but spent many happy years during the war years in Upway, whilst most of her elder brothers were away in the Army or Navy, so extending my business here seemed a natural progression.
Living & working on the jurassic coast…
Get to know some of our woods…..
Cherry
Burr Elm
Padauk
Pippy oak
Birdseye Maple
Oak
English Walnut
English Plane, Lacewood
Panga Panga
Soft or silver maple
Spalted Beech
Burr Oak
Our Philosphy
We all have a responsibility to leave this planet as we found it, .,..we believe that if at all possible everything we consume should be a sustainable resource and should not pollute the planet
At Attic Gallery Furniture we strive to ensure that all wood that we use is FSC or PEFC certified
…and by careful use of the many beautiful woods we are also celebrating the life of trees, …CIRCULARITY is the answer (not cake!) In moving towards a Net Zero Future we are aware that timber is a low carbon product but we are still on a journey to re-examine our carbon footprint and decarbonise even more by 2030 and beyond.
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