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Who are they?

Nafisi Studio hand make British sculpture and art-furniture from locally and sustainably sourced materials fusing progressive & heritage craftsmanship. The British-Persian duo, are a husband and wife team, who take commissions for the home, garden, workplace and public spaces. A Nafisi piece can be passed on to the next generation.

Why are they different?

The art of spontaneity - Choosing to keep elements of their design and production process fluid allows for a youthful freedom that enhances the finished product, they aim to leave at least 30% of the process to improvisation.

Sustainability - The workshop's heating and lighting is supplied by 100% renewable energy due to the farm's biomass boiler system and solar panels on the roof of the workshop. They use local timber yards for their FSC wood stock as well as regularly purchase off-cuts instead of new timbers

British - Persian Cultures - From Abdollah’s six years travelling the Iranian desert with nomadic tribes to Kate’s ten years of immersion in the world of design and tech, they actively expose themselves to as wide a variety of cultural inputs as possible. From Voysey’s architecture to Persian rugs the breadth of their inspiration is eclectic.

Abdollah Nafisi

Abdollah Nafisi is a designer craftsman at Nafisi Studio, with over 15 years experience in woodworking. He has created luxury furnishings and artwork for the home as well as sculptural works for the outdoors. As a Freeman member of the Worshipful Company of Furniture makers and a TV star from the BBC TWO series ‘The Victorian House of Arts & Crafts’, Abdollah likes to contribute to the craft industry and inspire others.

Originally from Iran where he ran his own woodworking workshop for 4 years, he relocated to the UK in 2011, in 2013 he set up his workshop in Horsham to produce bespoke commissioned pieces. Abdollah is passionate about raising the quality bar of each of his pieces as well as in his field to make the British handmade luxury industry proud.

He also teaches woodworking courses and lectures in design, often offering local businesses and charities pro bono work.

Kate Nafisi

Kate is Art Director and designer at Nafisi Studio, coming from 10 years in software design and 4 years as an art & design talk series curator. Kate started out in Interactive art, leading her to experimental touch screen user experiences and finally to UI/UX design for commercial digital products.

Her passion for human interaction and early attraction to participatory art, make art furniture design a natural extension of her skill set. When Kate designs she assesses the user experience first and foremost, paying great attention to ergonomics and function ensuring every piece satisfies the clients needs. Kate’s passion is the provenance of materials as well as the ethical, social and local implications sourcing has on the environment, building rejuvenation into the design for a sustainable future.

As well as designing, Kate does sanding and oiling of the pieces. She manages the studio’s communications, apprentices, marketing operations and their courses.

Logo

The illustrated dovetail symbol used within their logo comes from an ancient woodworking joint that has origins at least as far back as the Egyptian first dynasty in 3000 BC. This strong signature joint is used a lot in their work, whether internally or externally.

2. The Victorian woodworker

Abdollah Nafisi stars in a brand new four part BBC2 TV series ‘The Victorian House of Arts and Crafts’ Friday’s @9pm starting 11th January. He travelled back in time as a woodworker to live and work in the 1800’s with 6 other crafters, without electricity for a whole month.

Who is he?

• A hand-trained woodworker in the 1800’s.

• Works with hand tools, natural light and next to the fire.

• Sources his materials from local woodlands, chopping the tree down and preparing it for furniture making.

• Makes his tools such as the reciprocating wood lathe, mallet and draw knife.

• Works outdoors in a green woodworking workshop under a canopy exposed to the open air.

• Lives in traditionally durable garments made of wools, tweeds and animal skins topped off with a sturdy woollen hat.

What does he care about?

• The complete process start to end, from chopping the trees to finishing the furniture.

• Keeping warm in and out of the elements during long working days. Getting up at 5:30am and working till the light goes or till ~8pm by the fire light.

• Ensuring his tools retain a sharp edge.

• Staying in tune with the natural light at all times of year as this determines his schedule.

• Keeping clean, hand washing his clothes regularly due to messy nature of his work.

• Being able to nourish himself and his fellow craftsmen appropriately for the work ahead is no easy task when all the food has to be made from scratch.

How did he get here?

• Applied for the role through a tweet posted on Twitter.

• Attended in person interviews with ~100 other people, selected from over ~3000 applications.

• Test 1 - Solo exercise to ‘make a vessel in 1 hr’, he hand-carved an unusual wooden drinking saucer.

• Test 2 - Solo 20 minute interview with the show Directors.

• Test 3 - Group exercise to rank 20 famous designers in 15 minutes and provide justification for their conclusions and criteria.

• Waited 2 weeks - Got accepted as one of the six finalists over the phone.

• Set off to Wales to live in a old Arts and Crafts farm house for 1 month.

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