Tutors:
Emma Chesterman teaches our Hardwood Coffee Table and Plywood Planter courses. Emma is a designer and maker of furniture. She trained at the Building Crafts College, completing a Fine Furniture Making course and Level 2 Bench Joinery. Emma runs her own furniture design and making business, creating bespoke and commissioned pieces. She works with locally sourced timber and incorporates other materials into her designs such as concrete and cork.
Liam Cooke has been working as a cabinet maker and carpenter since re-training in 2015. He currently makes fitted furniture for full refurbishments but fits in numerous other types of woodworking jobs from set building to landscaping, to free standing bespoke pieces. He has been a member at Blackhorse Workshop since 2019. Liam teaches the Keepsake Box course.
Katharine Daish likes to work across all stages of the building, joinery, and making process. Sometimes you’ll find her engulfed by cardboard mock-ups, drawing details on sketch-up, up a scaffold tower, building strange beds, working out one-time moulds, or buried in sheep’s wool insulation. Alongside Katharine’s drive to never-get-bored, her commitment to joinery and teaching is constant, and she has been working with us for over 6 years. Katharine trained in Carpentry and Joinery at the Building Crafts College in 2012-2014. She has a lot of experience teaching different ages and abilities and loves to see people learning practical skills with confidence.
Richard Evans teaches the Studio Stool course every month at Blackhorse Workshop. Richard has been working as a furniture maker since 2017. He studied furniture design at University and has worked across Arts, Design and Photography before setting up his own business. His business RichCraft Furniture specialises in the manufacture of bespoke metal furniture for residential and business clients.The studio stool course was developed drawing on his expertise in metal bending and the fabrication of free standing metal furniture.
Joe Fergey teaches our Bespoke Picture Framing course. Since graduating from University of the Arts London in 2016, he has worked for various picture framing workshops and independently. From his workshop in Cambridge Heath he has made frames for clients and artists exhibiting at the V&A, RA Summer Exhibitions and internationally. Currently Lead Technician at Dyson Art, he studied Fine Art Photography at London College of Communication (UAL).
Will James has been a fine furniture maker since 2014, founding Knot Design in 2022 which crafts made-to-order and bespoke furniture pieces for clients in London and around the UK. Initially a self-taught woodworker, Will studied at the acclaimed Waters & Acland furniture school in the Lake District to further hone his skills. Will’s furniture brings together a variety of styles and influences, often involving sweeping curves and rounded forms, showcasing many traditional joinery techniques to make pieces that are built to last.
Sacha Lacey is a self taught blacksmith and knife maker. He took his first steps towards a career in metalworking in 2018 when he started doing freelance labouring for an east London fabricator in his free time. He continued to take on freelance welding work, as well as holding a position as a welder and chaser at the Bronze Age foundry. In 2021 he started his own small business as a blacksmith and knife maker, and currently spends the majority of his time split between his personal business and working part time for South London knife makers Blenheim Forge. His work focuses on creating functional items that will last a lifetime.
Josie Maprayil teaches our Welding Course. She 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.
Enrique Melin teaches Woodturning and our Woodwork inductions, as well as running making sessions for local secondary schools and groups. He is also one of our Workshop Technicians. 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 and the Blackhorse Sideshow project.
Jacky Oliver teaches our Pewter Casting course. She is a graduate of the Royal College of Art and creates work for exhibitions, commissions and residencies as well as teaching. Jacky has continued to develop her skills in metalwork including blacksmithing, silversmithing and enamelling. The scale of her pieces range from small hand held objects to installations and large scale architectural pieces. Working with others is a key part of her practice, this ranges from one day workshops through to her teaching on Foundation and undergraduate courses. Jacky is a member of the Royal Society of Sculptors, the London Creative Network and Design Nation.
Kate Payne has taught furniture making for over 30 years alongside working on commissions, private projects, making and designing. A cabinetmaker, qualified at London College of furniture and later London Guildhall, she is interested in restoring and crafts.....old cars, old houses and new furniture. Kate’s background in fine art was followed by a teaching qualification and she has lectured and developed courses at London Metropolitan University as well as various London colleges. Since 2010 she has worked at the Building Crafts college running their successful Wood Turning certificate course.
Tom Phillips is one of our woodwork tutors. His first foray into teaching was working as a ski and snowboard instructor in Austria for 3 years, and after studying product and furniture design at Kingston School of Art he has been designing and making freestanding and fitted furniture pieces from various workshops across east London. Tom has a passion for beautifully crafted furniture with character and when not designing/ making at Blackhorse he can be found playing football or planning his next trip to the mountains.
Brad Rolston teaches our Welding Course. He is a skilled maker and industrial designer from New Zealand. His expertise in welding and metalwork can be traced back to his early days working for his father's engineering business, which ignited a lifelong passion for the craft. He went on to pursue a Bachelor of Design at Massey University in Wellington, the country’s capital city. Since then has immersed himself in a number of projects for the automotive and furniture industries. He’s also a big fan of coffee, cars and exploring London.