WELCOME TO JADE WATTS WOODWORK!

My background is in Fine Art Sculpture (B.A. Hons) and textiles, a hobby I’ve had since childhood, both of which have helped to inform and shape my knowledge and current experience.

I have just graduated from a full-time woodwork course called Fine Woodwork, an intense 2 years of practical study. In this time I have gone from carpentry novice to having earned 4 qualifications: Furniture Making, Bench Joinery, Wood Machining and Wood Turning. It may sound like a lot for 2 years but this course, at the Building Crafts College in London, is one of the last bastions for traditional joinery in the country and where hand-tool skills are still a main focus. We lucky few on the Fine Woodwork course gladly put in all the hours we can!

I have been lucky to learn from some amazing tutors including Neil Austin, course head and previously head of the renown Furniture Design Course at Buckinghamshire University, as well as Rod Wales, of Wales and Wales and Tom Kealy, internationally acclaimed tutor, both of whom trained at Parnham under John Makepeace.

I have undertaken many projects during this time, some were set tasks such as panel doors, sash windows, tables, as well as turning projects bowls, spindle work and a plate. The main accomplishments, however, came in the second year where we were asked to design, source and make a table, a cabinet and a chair. My new found skills were put to the test then, as was my problem solving, while I learned and practised techniques from design to making, from timber selection and milling to hand joinery and machining, from steaming bending and laminating to veneering.

I’ve definitely found my passion in woodwork and can’t wait to put my skills to good use, I am particularly interested in sustainable products, up-cycling and eco-housing/living. My love of hard work means I’m ready to get my hands on whatever comes my way, though I do hope my career will follow my passions.

If I could do something amazing in my lifetime I would like to help make eco-housing and sustainable living part of mainstream culture.