Rycotewood Graduate shows award-winning ‘Polar’ chair
The BCFA are proud to support young designers in our market, and are gladly welcoming students and graduates to the BCFA Spring Design exhibition from Rycotewood. One of the products you will see on their stand (stand 37) will be from Avian Evans-White. He is a recent graduate of the Foundation Degree in Furniture Design and Make at Rycotewood, part of City of Oxford College, and was a winner in both the design and craft categories at the New Forest Show.
The New Forest Show has featured an exhibition of furniture made by designers and craftspeople since 2006. The aim is to show how beautiful wood can be made into beautiful things, with entries invited from professionals, non-professionals and those learning the trade.
The winning piece was the Polar Chair; Avian said “it was designed through practical experimentation in the Rycotewood workshops, exploring the combination of colour, contours and shaping with traditional hand techniques. It was inspired by the fluidity of deep-sea creatures and the name carries connotations of cleanliness and refinement”.
Avian was also selected to join the prestigious Linley Summer School. The school chooses eight students from the best furniture colleges around the country to learn a range of cabinet making and marquetry skills from master craftsmen. His work was subsequently chosen to be exhibited in the prestigious Linley showroom during its re-opening during London Design Festival.
Avian said: “Woodwork has been in my family for generations; my father, uncle and their father are all woodworkers of various types. Having watched and learned from them from a young age, I have come to greatly appreciate and value the craft. I enjoy designing new pieces, but my true sense of satisfaction is fulfilled when I’m able to realise these with my hands in the workshop, creating things that have true purpose.”
Come see the Polar Chair and much more at stand 37, The Old Turman Brewery London on March 28th & 29th for BCFA Spring Design. Get your ticket here