Angus Ross – Furniture maker
From designing potties for Mothercare to creating beautifully bespoke and hand-crafted furniture may seem like a leap, but for Angus Ross it’s been a very natural progression. ‘I made the transition from working in plastic to wood and I thought I would make more product-based stuff, but I got distracted by making furniture,’ Angus tells me.
Angus and his small team of craftspeople work with Scottish timbers, most of which come from a woodland that they manage just a few miles from their Aberfeldy workshop, where he has been based for the last 16 years. ‘We predominantly work in oak and ash,’ says Angus. ‘We do a lot of steam bending in order to create beautiful curvaceous forms and these woods bend well. And they also grow in our woodland, making the way we work that bit more sustainable.
‘I’ve always been fascinated by the way things go together, but I’m also really interested in how people use things.’ Creating anything from a custom-made library to ship to the States, to his unstable stools – which feature in the design gallery at the V&A Museum in Dundee – ensures that Angus’ work is always varied and that his showroom is always worth a visit.
‘I’ve always been fascinated by the way things go together, but I’m also really interested in how people use things’