53
“Line, proportion
and simpLicity are very
important to me... Good
desiGn shouLd speak
for itseLf”
WELD IN ACTION
In 1992 Tom Faulkner started out painting furniture, applying geometric stencilled
patterns onto table tops. At first, these were mostly sold to friends, but then slowly to
interior designers.
A year later, Faulkner discovered metal while sourcing bases to support the painted
tables. “Metal was a great discovery,” he says “I was seduced by its stylistic possibilities –
the fact that you could bend it and twist it into almost any shape you liked, and also by
its strength, versatility and simplicity.”
He then started to design furniture in metal and glass, and subcontracted his designs to
a small forge he found in the Wiltshire countryside. He produced his first brochure of 12
metal and glass designs, including three dining chairs.
In 1996, he bought the Wiltshire forge from the retiring proprietor. He bought all
of the machinery and inherited two employees. “Taking on the workshop was both
frightening and liberating,” says Faulkner. “Frightening because of the overheads and the
responsibility, but liberating because it meant I could start to design and make my own
prototypes.”
He is now a proficient welder, although he says hardly anything he has ever welded has
made it into a private home. “I make prototypes, but I leave production to the experts,”
he says. The experts in question are now a small team of skilled welders. He also uses a
factory in Italy to make some of the furniture.
The company also has a London showroom, which this year moved from Exmouth Market
to Chelsea.
Tom Faulkner p.indd 53 22/7/08 09:25:05
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