Meet the Maker - Sam from Last Leaf

As we welcome Sam from Last Leaf to Snowhome this Spring, we took a moment to have a chat and find out more about his beautiful handmade furniture.

You can view Sam's stunning work at his pop-up in-store at Snowhome from 20th April to 16th May. 

Tell us a little bit about your work.

I design and hand-make freestanding heirloom hardwood furniture from my  workshop, just outside York. I work using traditional hand tools machinery and truly believe that this slower, traditional approach to the woodwork is key to making great furniture.

I work in three ways really:

Offering bespoke commissions for my clients, making pieces in response to their needs and the space in which they are designed to inhabit. I love working like this and it really is a joy to create unique pieces for people.

Creating my own pieces. I view this way of working as more akin to being an artist. These pieces are often more sculptural in their design and most certainly the kind of work I enjoy the most, Three examples of this kind of work will be on show and available at the Snowhome pop-up.

I also make a lot of smaller functional pieces, often in small collections that are built in small runs. Various stools, benches, small side tables and plant stands often appear. The process of making big bespoke pieces means there ends up being lots of smaller pieces of lovely timber in my timber racks. These pieces of timber are far too valuable to sit idle or go to waste, and deserve to be turned into pieces of their own. There too, will be lots of these pieces on show and available during the pop-up.    

Almost every piece I have ever made has at least one of three things within it: 

Special timbers - I have a real love for unique pieces of timber. This is almost certainly due to me having studied lutherie, where its absolutely essential, for various reasons, that only the finest materials are used. I also have a real soft spot for using really wild, gnarly pieces of timber that are often rejected by others on account of them being too technically challenging and time consuming to work with. To me though, timbers like this can often have astonishingly beautiful grain and character, and if one is willing to take the time to drag these pieces kicking and screaming into a piece of furniture, then truly unique and stunning results can be accomplished. 

I also wholeheartedly believe that if a tree has had to be cut down, it is of the upmost importance its timbers are used to create something that is both beautiful and useful, ideally that can serve multiple generations before it returns back to the nature it came from. 

Inlay and marquetry work - This again is due to my past in lutherie. Wether the inlay work is structural, purely cosmetic, or both, I really enjoy what can be created with these techniques. 

Woodcarving - I really enjoy woodcarving, and again I suppose, back to lutherie! (think the heads of violins). Mostly, on my pieces the carving is all about creating texture. I like the contrast of finely polished and crisply finished surfaces against rougher, more matt finishes. Adding texture also creates wonderful interactions with light and shadow. Just another way of bringing timber back to life.

My aim in my work is simple really. To make truly unique pieces of furniture that are functional as well as beautiful. That use responsibly sourced materials, last for generations and are priced fairly. But most of all, pieces that put a smile on your face.

Where do you gain inspiration from?

I always find it really hard to answer this question, and the truth is that i’m not really sure. Of course, seeing the work of other woodworkers past and present can be inspiring. I guess for me the real inspiration comes from the material itself. Often i’ll see a piece of timber and it will hit me instantly, what needs to happen with it. For sure studying lutherie was a big inspiration, I think many luthiers would be able to see that in my work. 

Inspiration can come from anywhere and nowhere, sometimes it's there, sometimes you have to really search for it. It's all part of the challenge for me.   

What drew you to making furniture?

Making acoustic stringed instruments is absolutely wonderful. It is however, restrictive. An instrument simply has to perform in a certain way. Also musicians, as a whole tend to be purists when it comes to the instruments they use and for good reason. But as someone with a creative kind of brain it always felt too restrictive, certainly as a career. Furniture can be anything, you can literally do whatever the hell you want. Creative freedom. That’s what drew me to furniture making. 

You trained in lutherie. Making stringed musical instruments sounds really romantic, can you tell us more about that?

I always loved making things and music. Put the two together and that led me to luthirie. It's a wonderful craft. I studied in London under some great luthiers and learnt how to hand craft acoustic stringed instruments. It was a very intense way to get into woodwork, I mean like jumping in really at the very deepest part of the deepest end! For two months or so we didn’t even touch a piece of wood! We had to learn how to set up, sharpen and properly use hand tools. I loved that though. Studying lutherie in and academic setting was a great start, with modules on instrument history, technical drawing, material science, acoustics… there was a lot. Studying wood quite literally on a cellular level is an awesome thing to do for someone who’s going to spend the rest of their life working with it. 

As a craft itself though it encompasses a wide array of technical wood work. Wood carving, wood bending, inlay work, marquetry, wood turning, a deep understanding of wood and how it performs, incredible precision for woodwork, like hundredths of millimetres! In wood! Basically its really, really fun if you're as much of a geek as I am.  

I love making musical instruments and i’ll make many more I hope, but I knew the skills needed for it would set me up well, and at that age, i didn’t know exactly what direction within woodwork I was going to go. 

Spending weeks or months hand making an instrument, then stringing it up and hearing its first notes, its individual voice is a feeling that I don’t think can be matched very easily, and it's one that really stays with you.

What’s your favourite piece you’ve worked with recently?

The Burr Elm and Wenge desk/dressing table that will be on show at the pop-up was really special for me. Its such an amazing piece of timber that I simply had to keep the design simple. For me it was kind of an exercise in restraint. There’s so much going on in the Elm itself that I really didn’t want to take away from that. it was challenging for me holding back and deciding what to leave out. I agonised over details on a piece that is essentially quite simple in its form. I hope its paid off! I love it, hopefully others will too!  

You are creating a stunning desk as part of your pop-up. What stationery would you have on your dream desk?

I don’t use computers really, and I never use them for designing. All my designs are done on paper, at the drawing board, so I really love technical drawing. Basically anything to do with that, a good old clicky pencil, french curves, scale rules… i’m a stationary addict when it comes to technical drawing! 

What’s your top tip for a good tune for the shop playlist?

Any, and all Steely Dan!

Your pop-up will be a Spring event. What’s your favourite thing about the season?

The end of winter! And not having to wear so many layers in the workshop!

How do you like to capture a moment of calm?

Cycling, on my own, nowhere near tarmac or other humans! Ideally in a massive forest.

What’s your favourite space in your home?

Ooooooh…. Probably the guitar wall.. No home should be without one!