Staff

The Blackhorse Team:

Byron Clarke is one of our workshop technicians, working two days a week. With the rest of the week he can be found running his studio thisisbyron from his space in Blackhorse Workshop, designing and making high end furniture and objects for private and commercial clients, deliberately working across a wide range of material. 

Anna Cornish is our Workshop Compliance Officer. She had a successful career in the NHS before deciding to change careers and follow a long held dream of becoming a maker. She undertook the Diploma in Fine Furniture at Building and Crafts College in East London in 2016 and graduated in 2018. She now runs her own company Essentially Wood, based at the Workshop which has been going for three years. 

Jenny Dewhirst is Co-Director of the Workshop and has been involved since the first year with making the project financially sustainable. She has spent 20 years in the non-profit sector working with organisations from the National Portrait Gallery and Open University to the Ministry of Stories and Camden Arts Centre.

Agnes Galpin (they/them) started working for Blackhorse as "Assistant Technician" on the government's Kickstarter scheme in July 2021. Agnes trained at the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance in Austria and is a qualified yoga teacher. Since working and after picking up many new skills at Blackhorse, they now have regular commissions for carpentry projects and is also currently working as a freelance performance artist.

Josie Maprayil is our Creative Technician. She studied English Literature at Queen Mary before retraining in Welding and Fabrication. She then spent some years working at The English National Opera, before moving on to freelancing for various metal fabrication companies in London and most recently worked as a chaser at Bronze Age Foundry. She also creates jewellery pieces using pewter, silver, gold and teeth from her bench in Lea Bridge - and is delighted to have now become part of The Blackhorse Workshop team.

Lucy Martin is  an experienced creative youth practitioner and journalist who has worked with young people to produce documentaries, podcasts and photography exhibitions alongside craft based youth programmes. Having programmed and led multiple youth projects across East London contributing to long term change for young people; Lucy is our Creative Programme Manager for Schools and Young People.

Enrique Melin is the Workshop's Building and Maintenance Technician. As well as assisting in the workshop and running our Woodwork Inductions and Woodturning courses, he is a furniture maker and woodturner, and runs his own business making bespoke pieces. Being a long-term member, he is also very passionate about the life of the workshop and was involved in the build of the new extension,  Sideshow and the Atomic 50 education projects.

Harriet Warden is Co-Director of Blackhorse Workshop, and has set up and developed the project since it opened its doors in February 2014. She has worked across a variety of institutions across the cultural spectrum – most recently as one of the founding team behind Alain de Botton’s The School of Life, previously for architect Zaha Hadid, and for Tate Modern’s public programme and development teams. As a maker herself, Blackhorse Workshop presents a fantastic opportunity to combine her background in arts management & design with a passion for start up projects and building communities.

Marcie Wood is our part time Receptionist and Membership Co-ordinator. She studied Illustration at the University of Gloucestershire and now also freelances as an Illustrator. Being from the Cayman Islands, her works consist of Caribbean culture, folklore and anything with a whimsical twist. While working at Blackhorse Workshop she hopes to learn both wood and metal working skills.