Magazines

Didn’t it make you feel just a tiny bit smug, watching that episode of The Apprentice where the would-be entrepreneurs tried to design and make a piece of flatpack furniture? The heroes and heroines of this month’s issue don’t know the meaning of the word smug. We’ve got Ludvig Solvang talking to the boat builders who protect the heritage of their very different techniques in the Arctic Circle – Goan techniques come next month – and I track down a man who was inspired by his much-loved wreck of a boat to set up a timber milling business in a Welsh forest and to share his space with other craftspeople. There I also meet a count who is going to train ex-servicemen and women in woodwork. I also report on a couple of female designer-makers who are not only making great pieces but are passing on their skills, one of them to African women and the other to jobless and disadvantaged people in the UK. Projects include machine-made and hand-made clocks, planters and an air-brushed bowl. Enjoy.

Andrea Hargreaves, Editor