Who is Mary Marsh?
I was born in Malvern and feel very deeply rooted in this part of the world. I love the timelessness of the ancient granite Hills, the rich flora and fauna of the surrounding countryside and the fascinating history of human interaction with the landscape whether building the Iron Age Hill Fort at British Camp or managing the Forest as a hunting ground for kings.
You can still find remnants of the Royal Forest, also known as Malvern Chase. On Castlemorton Common wild boar and deer have been replaced by sheep and cattle but the pollarded willows spread their branches over shallow pools just as they did a thousand years ago and place-names such as Chase End and White Leaved Oak summon up the spirit of the Forest still.
This combination of local history and natural history with which I grew up, inspires me now to work exclusively in native British timbers. For beauty and durability it is hard to beat English Oak and together with other native species, ranging from Ash to Walnut, there is as great a variety of grain pattern and colour on offer as you could ever wish for.
What is my inspiration?
I have always been motivated by curiosity about the world around me, both natural and man-made. As a child I wanted to know how things worked, how they fitted together, what they were made of and how I could replicate that in wood and other readily available materials. The urge to make things was always very strong, and the desire to understand how things work led me to study the sciences and ultimately biology at university.
On a more practical level, I am also driven by a desire to make things work efficiently - to come up with the simplest and most elegant solution to any given problem.
Since moving back to Malvern, a life drawing class has inspired renewed interest in art and the techniques of drawing, whilst also reminding me of the extraordinary beauty of the human form.
All of these strands come together very neatly for me in the craft of furniture making. It gives me the opportunity to solve three dimensional problems with elegance, simplicity and originality and satisfies my desire to work with our wonderful native timbers to create objects which are both useful and beautiful.
Where did I learn to make furniture?
My father was my first woodwork teacher and he was kind and brave enough to let me loose in his workshop almost as soon as I was old enough to climb the stairs to reach it. He was a wonderful carpenter, who combined the precision of a highly skilled engineer with the flare for design of an accomplished artist. What he taught me and the aesthetic sense he imparted to me influence my work to this day.
I learned the techniques of fine furniture making from Jonathan Markovitz at his Oxfordshire workshop in 2006 and was lucky enough to be invited to stay on in 2007 to work on commissions for his clients. This was excellent experience for a fledgling furniture maker and I am indebted to him for his belief in me and his ongoing support.
Halfway through my training course and proud owner of a newly completed bench