David Gates
Based in London I run a studio/workshop designing and making furniture, working speculatively for public showing and to commission on domestic, public and commercial pieces. Working on my own since 1992 I like to know how things are put together and enjoy the whole process of working on pieces from conversation or thought then through drawings and models to completion and delivery. My materials come from managed and sustainable sources. Recent work has centred around a more three-dimensional user experience of cabinetwork and in an ongoing project I am trying to present users with pieces that ask to be considered for their ambiguities. I enjoy thinking about language and how people talk about what they do and who they are and as part of this I am working on a thesis based PhD at Kings College London researching situated literacies and oralities in sites of contemporary craft practice. I am usually working on one or more open-ended inter-disciplinary research projects with other practitioners centred on ideas of communication and the notion of making. I teach part time at what used to be known as the London College of Furniture, now part of the lumbering behemoth that is London Metropolitan University working with students on studio, workshop and theory modules.
I also have an allotment and still sometimes find good things in skips.
Links to my website and a slow-moving blog should appear below, this is where I post details about upcoming shows and thoughts about stuff;