<h1>Wales and Wales: Contemporary Furniture Designers</h1> <h2>About Wales and Wales</h2> <p>Since 1980 <b>Wales & Wales</b> have gained a reputation for timeless, intelligent design, emerging from a craft background without being confined by it. The experience of making contributes clarity and refinement to their design for production, which increasingly dominates their time, as much as to the one-offs or short runs from their own workshop.</p> <h2>Wales and Wales -The Stripe series</h2> <p>The cabinets which make up the <b>Stripe Series</b> all contain drawers. The series grew from the use of strips of solid wood as an overlay, essentially a form of parquetry. The repetitive nature of the slats, their fixings, texture and colour allows a more expressive, graphic approach to the furniture surface than is usual with timber. </p> <p>These pieces are often deliberately ambiguous, having a unique sculptural presence, and though aesthetic effect is primary, it is never at the cost of ordinary usefulness. They all work. We are designers, and that gives us sufficient scope to be artists.</p> <ul> <li>Sideboard with 3 drawers in oak and bog oak with hand-fitted velvet cutlery canteen.</li> <li><b>Shift</b> - chest of drawers in oak and bog oak</li> <li><b>Slant</b> - cabinet of 10 drawers in oak and bog oak</li> <li>Cabinets with 10 drawers in oak and ebonised oak. Cabinet in foreground is part of the 20th Century Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.</li> <li><b>New York</b> - cabinet with 9 drawers and two doors in oak and fumed oak with gilded and painted details.</li> <li><b>Plumb</b> - chest of drawers in oak and bog oak</li> </ul> <h2>Contact Wales and Wales</h2> Rod and Ali Wales<br> Long Barn Workshop<br> Muddles Green<br> Chiddingly<br> Lewes, East Sussex<br> BN8 6HW<br> <h2>Wales and Wales Corporate and Public commissions</h2> <p>We have always sought to work beyond the domestic scale. Possibly the most dramatic example of this are the <b>Chess Chairs</b> for Broadgate, and though this was a key commission, and one where we worked very closely with the architects (S.O.M.) and client, it was ironically a rare example of our work being completely non-functional. Yes, we do corporate art too! More conventionally a <b>Wales & Wales</b> boardroom or reception area contributes to the identity of the client organisation and its values, as well as enhancing the lives of the users.</p> <ul> <b>National Arts Collection Fun</b>d <li>Folding boardroom table in oak, maple and aluminium.</li> </ul> <ul> Co-op <li>Boardroom table and cabinets in oak and bog oak</li> </ul> <ul> Chess Chairs, Broadgate <li>A chess set in the form of chairs: natural and stained ash, steel, slate - 2.7m high</li> </ul> <ul> Reception Desk for Scottish Office <li>Design maquette</li> </ul> <ul>Terrace Seating, Snape Maltings <li>oak, aluminium, 14 metres long</li> </ul> <ul> Seating for the Water Gallery Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art <li>fumed oak, maple</li> </ul> <h2>Wales and Wales One-off commissions</h2> <p>Originally our core business, domestic commissions are now somewhat overshadowed by other areas of work. However, a solid client relationship always has the potential to yield an exceptional one-off piece.</p> <ul> <li>Conversation cabinets - CC One<br>Simple formal/graphic compositions that work as wall hung domestic sculptures.<li> Conversation cabinets - CC Two<br> Simple formal/graphic compositions that work as wall hung domestic sculptures. <br>Fumed and limed oak <br>Oak and hammered stainless steel <br>Plinths and drawers in oak, bog oak and maple with gilded panel. </ul> <h2>Wales and Wales Products</h2> <p>We have designed furniture products for:</p> <ul> <li>Cloverleaf Group</li> <li>Englender Furniture</li> <li>Garpa GmbH</li> <li>McDonald's Restaurants Ltd</li> <li>Luke Hughes and Company</li> <li>Forms and Surfaces</li> <li>Davison Highley</li> <li>Philip Wood</li> </ul> <ul> <li>HuTu occasional table/magazine rack</li> <li>Chai meeting chair</li> <li>Volo gallery/reception seating</li> <li>Futures Chair - seating and ancillary furniture for McDonalds Restaurants Ltd</li> <li>Butterfly Chair</li> <li>Town Table - table in various sizes and materials</li> </ul> <h2>Wales and Wales clients and collections</h2> <p>Our clients include individuals, companies of all shapes and sizes, institutions, churches, local authorities, even government ministries. </p> <p>Whatever the size of the client organisation, at the beginning and end there is always a person or group who we build a relationship with to produce the desired result. All our work is made to be used. However over the years we are flattered that some pieces have been acquired for public collections.</p> <h4>Shipley Art Gallery</h4> Shelf with two drawers in maple and oak <h4>Victoria and Albert Museum</h4> A cabinet of 10 drawers in oak and ebonised oak. <h4>Crafts Council Collection</h4> <b>Shift</b> - a cabinet of 6 drawers in oak and bog oak<br> <b>Sine</b> - a screen in aeroply, ash and stainless steel <h4>Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum</h4> Our work is included in a number of permanent collections: <ul> <li>South East Arts: Showcase </li> <li>West Dean House: Conductor's stand/lectern</li> <li>Manchester City Art Gallery: Sine screen</li> <li>Crafts Council collection: Sine screen</li> <li>Victoria and Albert Museum: Cabinet of 10 drawers</li> <li>Shipley Art Gallery: Shelf with two drawers</li> <li>Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum: Shift - chest of drawers</li> </ul> <h2>Wales and Wales Street furniture</h2> <p><b>Wales & Wales</b> have designed some of the world's most beautiful street furniture, now available in the UK exclusively through Luke Hughes and Company (<a href="http://www.lukehughes.co.uk">www.lukehughes.co.uk</a>) and in the USA from Forms & Surfaces (<a href="http://www.forms-surfaces.com">www.forms-surfaces.com</a>). We design and manufacture for individual projects as well as offering a constantly growing standard range in wood, steel, aluminium and stone. <b>Wales & Wales</b> furniture confers a unique, responsive aesthetic identity to the landscape or street.</p> <h2>Wales and Wales teaching and workshops</h2> <p><b>Rod Wales</b> is an experienced teacher and is currently an external examiner at various universities and colleges in the UK and, more recently, in the USA. These include the University of Brighton and Parnham College - in various roles as a design tutor, visiting lecturer and short course tutor. He now gives short courses at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, Maine and has lectured at the Rhode Island School of Design.</p> <h2>Wales and Wales Exhibitions</h2> <p><b>Wales & Wales</b> have shown at innumerable selected group exhibitions in the UK and abroad, including: </p> <ul> <li>Contemporary Arts Today: Sotheby's, London </li> <li>The Furnished Landscape: Crafts Council, London </li> <li>The Woodcarver's Craft: Crafts Council, London</li> <li>British Studio Furniture: Cork Street, London </li> <li>International Contemporary Furniture Fair: New York</li> <li>In the Swim: Bremerhaven</li> <li>Exempla: Munich</li> </ul> <h2>Wales and Wales Recent Exhibitions</h2> <b>Inspirations</b> <br> Hill House, Helensburgh, Glasgow, October 2002<br> <b>Onetree</b><br> Bristol City Art Gallery, June 2002<br> Geffrye Museum, London, September 2002 (<a href="http://www.onetree.org.uk">www.onetree.org.uk</a>) <h2>Awards for Wales and Wales Furniture</h2> <ul> <li>Design Week award: Sine screen</li> <li>Manchester Prize for Art in Production: Sine screen</li> <li>3 Guild Marks from the Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers.</li> <li>FX design award: DB Bench </li> <li>Bayerische Staatspreis (gold medal): Street furniture</li> <li>Arts Foundation/ Po Shing Woo Foundation: </li> <li>Fellowship for furniture making.</li> </ul>