Tony Gill

While living and working for six years in a boatyard I built and fitted out my own boat, learning and practicing my skills under the tutelage of the cabinet makers there. Between the wars and after until the 1960's, the yard built top quality motor yachts. Each was supplied with a small clinker built wooden dinghy. These dinghies were made by the final year shipwright apprentices as their 'apprentice pieces'. The cabinet makers fitted out the interior of the yachts and their apprentices would make one of the lockers or bookcases as their piece. My whole boat turned out to be my 'apprentice piece'.

We sailed up the east coast, through the Caledonian canal and south to Ardfern, from where Anya and I took people on holiday cruises under sail among the islands of the Inner Hebrides. After fifteen years sailing it was time to come ashore and stay in one place for a while. Good furniture was hard to come by here, so I decided to make it myself and re-awakened dormant skills.

I set up my workshop, joined the Scottish Furniture Makers Association, see links, (then called the Scottish Craft and Art Furniture Makers Association), and became a full time professional furniture maker and designer at the Perth Woodfair in 2002.

The furniture I like has clean lines, sometimes subtle curves, honest construction and a fine finish that just asks to be stroked. What pleases me most though,  is the challenge of turning my clients' ideas into reality, making the ephemeral into that special piece which will be cherished for years.