Back in May I entered my pieces into the prestigious competition under the Furniture category. I was delighted to find out that I’d been shortlisted, and went along to the awards presentation at the ‘In touch with timber’ Conference in Coventry.

I met the other shortlisted designers and we had a good chat, mostly about wood. Furniture was one category among many other architectural and interior categories, and the other projects submitted were brilliantly designed, and really show what can be done with this versatile material.

The Furniture category was won by Kate Walker with her ‘Windsor Rocker’, which was well deserved award, the chair is beautifully designed and made by a furniture maker that I have long admired, James Mursell. I can’t deny that I was a little disappointed.

However, my work had been submitted to another category, one which was for ‘Outstanding Design’. This was made up of selected projects from across all categories, and so my work was selected against the Olympic Velodrome among others. I was overwhelmed to find out that my ‘Suent’ Superlight Chair’ had won this category, and went to collect my award.

The award sits proudly in my workshop, and I’m immensely chuffed to have won!