Video by Jamie Cameron www.Jamie-cameron.com
Designer-maker Jonathan Rose’s engineering background feeds his problem solving approach to furniture design, creating contemporary furniture for our current world, with a firm focus on quality and function. His approach is progressive and he welcomes ideas from many sources: historical and contemporary, established and emerging, traditional and modern, student and master. He is inherently curious and excited when he finds a new process or material that has possibilities in his work.
Jonathan presents developments to the “Attentive” chair, a key component of his range of handmade furniture that bridges the gap between antique, mid-century modern and 2018. The Attentive collection encompasses chairs, tables and a stool for active living. Jonathan worked with a saddler and two furniture manufacturers, using their specialist skills and machinery to develop the idea beyond his own workshop. Key to these partnerships was encouraging people to try new processes and materials without any certainty of success. They developed an innovative pad capture which allows a balance between wood and leather, and easy replacement for maintenance.
The design also has options for individual choice of materials and height. The wooden chairs can have finishes such as black scorched ash, gilded edges, rich cherrywood or white high gloss lacquer, while seats and backs are upholstered in subtle plains in leather, simulated crocodile skin upholstery, and a new design for DesignJunction, Art Class which incorporates Timorous Beasties’ distinctive printed velvets.
Jonathan says, “Although Scandinavian aesthetic dominates today the vestiges of luxurious surfaces and colours of Victorian and Edwardian grandeur have never been far away. My Attentive collection shows a rich and adaptable colour and material aesthetic.”