About the Author John Lloyd.

From an early age I was constantly dismantling things in my curiosity to find out how they worked, and, in those days my poor attempts at reassembly drove my parents mad but received my just desserts when one day it was my bike I chose to take apart and, having not tightened the nuts up properly, I did a spectacular head plant as a wheel flew off and still bear the scars today!

My fascination with the quality of design and construction has never waned. Initially I thought my passion lay with the motor industry, in my late teenage years the kitchen table was covered in greasy car parts – again my poor long suffering parents!

After a brief dalliance with the building industry my passion for natural materials, in particular wood, and a flair for technical drawing lead me naturally to a career in the design and making of fine handmade furniture and restoration of antiques.

Wood is a beautiful medium with which to work, occasionally frustrating and challenging with a will of its own given time and temperature, but always rewarding and timeless.

I have been designing, making, restoring, teaching and writing for over 25 years and I am now lucky enough to enjoy a very varied working life passing on my skills to the next generations of furniture makers, writing educational articles and tool reviews for cabinet making magazines, making bespoke pieces for discerning clients and, when time allows, restoring and conserving beautiful antiques for future generations.

My workshops are in barns on our small eighteenth century farm in Sussex where I live with my wife, our two ‘boomerang’ kids, and a collection of animals. When I do find time to get away you’ll find me either at the top of a snowy mountain – crazy but I still renew my ski instructors licence, or mountain biking on the beautiful South Downs early on a Sunday morning, the perfect antedote to an always frenetically busy week.

Starting a blog has been on my ‘to do’ list for a while now and with much encouragement from my family I am finally embracing social medial and all it entails! I very much hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I am looking forward to writing it.

 

Little Surrenden Students

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