Mark Boddington, Silverlining
Mark Boddington’s first yacht project was a big one. His company, Silverlining, was commissioned to craft furniture for a superyacht being constructed for Prince Jefri Bolkiah, the playboy brother of the sultan of oil-rich Brunei. “Someone we’d worked with on the first home we did for the Duke and Duchess of Westminster rang me up and said they’d got a project with Prince Jefri, who wanted to finish a boat in six months,” says Boddington.
Boddington and his artisans had already created furniture for the likes of David Bowie and Kevin Costner, but this was their first foray into ocean-going interiors and it was the beginning of a longstanding relationship with yachting. “We do a lot of superyachts now,” says Boddington. “We’ve done all the items of furniture on some yachts and about 50 per cent on others.”
Boddington began his career as a craftsman making furniture despite coming from the family behind Boddingtons Brewery and its range of beers. “I was the ninth generation in the family but I didn’t go into the business. I followed my passion of making furniture,” he says. “From the age of four or five, I’ve made furniture. My mother has a bookcase I made when I was five.”
The beautifully detailed, bespoke and utterly personal work Silverlining is doing has kept its clients coming back for more. “It’s a mirror of their taste and the things they like, and the project may be very contemporary or cutting edge, or it may be very art nouveauinspired,” says Boddington.
One unique piece Silverlining created for a superyacht was a seven-metre table with engravings designed around the client’s logo. The table bears the sterling silver hallmark of Silverlining. “I didn’t want to sign my name, so I decided to use a silver hallmark,” says Boddington. “Anybody who looks up a piece of our furniture can see when it was made.” silverliningfurniture.co.uk