Luna craft in Chideock

Celebrating the tenth anniversary of his contemporary furniture business, designer and maker James Verner launches a new collection, inspired by modern design
yet deeply rooted in his local environment.

“I grew up around this table” says furniture maker James Verner. We are sitting in the kitchen of the home he shares with wife Emma and her son Noah outside Bridport. It is what writers tend to call a ‘rural idyl’. Like most furniture makers, James’s life revolves around wood and this kitchen setting, cradled in the folds of a classic west Dorset landscape, takes much of its homely feel from the trees that surround it. That is apart from one starkly bright piece of furniture that at first sight seems at odds with its surroundings. It is the table that James spent most of his youth sitting at. Designed by Finish architect Eero Saarinen, it is very definitely not made from wood, yet its modern sleek design is part of the inspiration for a new collection of furniture that James is launching at an exhibition in December. Like James, Eero Saarinen approached each project with novel ideas. He established his international reputation in the US where he first worked with his father Eliel Saarinen. He is characterised as one of the most remarkable and controversial 20th century architects. The table that now sits in a rural farmhouse in Dorset has a classically sixties feel that wouldn’t be out of place in an Austin Powers movie.
In a manner that must have so irritated his parents at meal times, James swivels around in a Saarinen designed chair as he explains the inspiration behind his new collection of furniture. “There are three or four strands to the design” he says. “Having studied geology as a youngster I have always been fascinated by the structure of our local coastline. The complexity and diversity of the rock strata brings a thousand possibilities to the design. We decided to call the collection ‘Luna’ - partly playing with the word lunar, which I think aptly describes Saarinen’s table design - but also to tie in with the tidal effect on the rockface. While keeping the lunar feel we have been building up layers of different timbers at different thicknesses to represent the different rock strata. They are then going to be sandblasted, and, like the rockface, each timber will react differently.” Hardly able to contain his excitement at the prospect, in ever rising tones James goes on to explain further. “After this treatment we then take the timbers apart and treat each one in a different way, some will be fumed with ammonia to make them go dark, some will be bleached, some will be oiled and some will be left just naturally. When you put them back together it really will have that look of rock strata.” Whilst the initial designs are for a series of tables James is excited by the prospect of more sculptural designs based on the idea. “You could, for example, make a very large armchair like that, building up layers, sandblasting it all and then carving out a really nice comfortable area to sit in. Then you’d have the rough sandblasted texture on the outside and the highly finished area on the inside.”
Interacting with the local landscape is nothing new to James. Apart from regularly nipping across the fields on his mountain bike to visit friends and walking the pebble beached coastline, he has included ammonites found on local beaches into his furniture for many years. His bookmatched style has been used to great affect on commissioned pieces that have seen his unique furniture in settings from contemporary corporate boardrooms in London to elegant traditional Italian palaces in Florence. This year he celebrates ten years of furniture making in Dorset and is opening his studio to give visitors a preview of his new collection. The exhibition runs from Friday to Sunday December 1st to 3rd. For more information contact James at his studio on 01297 489155 or visit his website www.jamesverner.co.uk.