JAMES MUDGE

The celebrated furniture designer takes us on a tour of his Cape Town studio, where he uses traditional cabinet-making techniques to create his clean-lined, solid wood pieces

I have been making furniture for most of my life. I grew up in my parents’ furniture workshop, where I learned most of what I know about solid wood and traditional joinery techniques. From there I went on to study architecture, where I came to appreciate clean, simple lines and a contemporary aesthetic. There’s nothing quite like working with a beautiful material such as solid wood. I get enormous satisfaction from dealing with a sustainable, natural product on a daily basis. We have invested in state-of-the-art equipment for working with solid wood, which transforms the material from a fibrous, rough surface into something smooth and refined that can be shaped like butter. I am inspired by the knowledge that what I make will last a lifetime and as such it needs to visually withstand trends and design movements. Aesthetic longevity is important to me, as it shows respect for the tree that was cut down and used up. This image shows the join on our carpenter’s table. The design is inspired by 18th-century French workbenches that had to be robust and have removable legs to allow them to be transported between building sites. We are extremely fortunate to have our factory and showroom on Hope Street, in the centre of the Cape Town City Bowl. We are very close to some lovely restaurants which make our quality of life working here exceptional, and we love that friends and clients can easily pop in and say hi while they go about their day. 36 LifeStyle Having a small team enables us as a company to rely on one another, work together in a helpful and generous spirit and generally enjoy ourselves — which is paramount for us. Everyone who works at JMFS is excellent at their job and a pleasure to spend time with. Pictured here is Peter Botha, finishing up a riempie chair. | Home 8•04•2018 Sunday Times There’s a lot that goes into making a piece of furniture: pulling timber from large bundles of wood, laying it out to match up wood grain, planing it down, joining it together, cutting it up, joining it together again, then onto finishing with various levels of sanding, sealing, touch-ups and, finally, inspection. This does not all happen in one day, but rather over the course of a number of weeks, but we usually have a couple of things on the go at the same time. We like to open early before the city has started up, and the first thing we do is set up the factory, check our schedules and have a cup of good coffee. It’s great walking into the studio and being greeted by the smell of solid oak shavings and the noise of the machines. I normally do a quick tour, greet everyone and see if there are any problems or questions. I’ve been working on a new chair design for the past few weeks and have enjoyed spending full days in the studio. It’s the most rewarding aspect of what I do and it’s great to watch a piece evolve, from pencil sketch to finished article. I love the process of working with my hands to coax a new design to life. Jamesmudge.co.za