Camberwell Canteen Collection

The brief: sustainability, local provenance, product longevity.

A table, stool, bench and stackable chair for the new Canteen coffee bar at Camberwell College of Arts, serving up to 3,000 students daily during the college’s £62 million campus redevelopment.

We were given the time to do this properly. The full collection was designed and prototyped before a single production piece was cut. Joints designed, tested and refined. Processes reviewed at each stage. The beauty of the commission was not only in the finished pieces but in the process itself, the rhythm of batch making furniture, each component considered, each detail resolved before moving to the next. That rigour is what gives the collection its coherence.

Reclaimed Douglas Fir sourced, machined and finessed within a 7 mile radius of the college. Paired with British grown Ash from National Trust continuous cover forestry in the South West. Finished with natural oils and durable matt lacquer.

Bridle joints with locking through tenons used throughout. A specially designed tenon joint at the seat rest allows the A-frame chair to stack without the use of laminated components, an innovative solution developed and tested in-house that keeps the construction honest from top to bottom.