The Marchmont Workshop — Slow Ways Studio

About the Workshop

Sam Cooper and Richard Platt founded The Marchmont Workshop in 2020 on the Marchmont Estate, after completing an apprenticeship with the last remaining practitioner of the traditional rush chairs in the UK, before his retirement. Sam and Richard do more than keep the tradition alive, they bring their own design backgrounds to the techniques they have mastered, introducing contemporary furniture into the future lexicon of heritage craft too.

Designed, in their own words 'from tree to home', each piece of furniture is hand crafted from local hardwoods sourced from woodlands around The Marchmont Workshop in the Scottish Borders.

Statement

Our furniture starts with the first principles of woodworking, selecting and harvesting our own materials, with every chair turned, steam-bent and finished by hand, using locally sourced and sustainably felled timber. Every chair has a light but long-lasting seat woven from hand-picked common river rushes.

We believe good furniture should last a lifetime, and by using traditional skills and techniques passed down from master to apprentice through six generations, we can achieve just that.

The Makers

Sam Cooper, Richard Platt & Isaac Uden

Scottish Borders

Co-founders of The Marchmont Workshop, Sam and Richard trained under the last practitioner of traditional UK rush chairmaking. They combine deep craft knowledge with contemporary design sensibilities, creating furniture that is both rooted in heritage and entirely of the present.

From Tree to Home

Marchmont Estate, Scotland

Every piece begins on the estate itself — timber selected and felled from local woodlands, rush hand-harvested from river banks. This close relationship with materials shapes every stage of making, from the first cut of wood to the final weave of a seat. It is furniture made with an intimate knowledge of its origins.

Selected Works

Each piece is made to commission. To enquire, [email protected].

Ledbury Chair

Hand Turned · Rush Seat

The Ledbury Chair is a bold expression of the workshop's vernacular tradition, hand turned from local hardwood with a woven river rush seat. Its vivid painted finish signals the makers' commitment to bringing heritage craft into contemporary life.

£874

60cm W × 48cm D × 91.5cm H

Abbott Chair

Oak · Rush Seat · Hand Turned

Hand turned from locally sourced oak, with a seat woven from hand-picked river rush. Inspired by vernacular English and Scottish chairmaking traditions, each piece is finished entirely by hand. Photographed by Alex Felstead.

£722

47cm W × 45cm D × 98cm H

Clissett Chair

Ash · Rush Seat · Steam Bent

Named for the nineteenth-century chairmaker Philip Clissett, whose work influenced the Arts and Crafts movement. Steam-bent ash, with a rush seat woven by hand using techniques passed through six generations of makers. Photographed by Sam Cooper.

£748

61cm W × 50cm D × 89cm H