Glass and gilding are seductive surfaces for Rupert Bevan’s craftsmanship

Bespoke furniture designer, maker and finisher Rupert Bevan is opening his finishing studio and exhibiting new pieces and a range of interiors finishes in his showroom in the Queen’s Park Design District during next week’s London Design Festival.

Inspired by historical designers with a lasting legacy that goes beyond fashion, Bevan’s style is for modern luxury, inflected with Art Deco and 1940s inspiration.

The old-time influences add glamour to the designs but pieces remain contemporary feeling through the use of new or unusual techniques.

“I’m very inspired by interesting use of materials and unusual surfaces and finishes,” says Bevan. “There is so much potential to create new ideas and styles from using and developing existing skills and techniques in this area.”

Items such as the oak, leather and steel dining table demonstrate these ideas with traditional materials used in unexpected ways, and the subtle use of geometric motifs on the minimal silhouette.

While there is a clear visual thread through all his projects, Bevan insists that projects are client-led and that the studio avoids dictating designs to suit their own style.

“We try to extract whatever clients have in their heads but can’t necessarily express. I guess in reality we are facilitators for the clients and interiors designers, equipped with a vast array of designing and making skills to take things to the next level,” he says.

“I love that every new piece of furniture is a new design and creation with its own story.”

With a background in furniture restoration, craftsmanship is a central concern and all pieces are made in Britain, often by hand by an expert in cabinet making, metalwork, mirror glass, lacquerwork, or, Bevan’s speciality – gilded and gesso finishes.

“Gesso is my favourite material to work with because it has such great potential to create so many different effects.

“I also enjoy working with various different patinated metals such as steel, brass, copper, and our antiqued mirror glass is also very versatile and can be used in different contexts to bring light and atmosphere into a room.

“In terms of furniture I think cocktail cabinets are the way forward, and television/media cabinets – these are luxury items that seem to be increasingly sought after, especially as they provide an opportunity for designers to push beyond the barriers of conventional design and produce something new and compelling that also has functional use.”

Visit Rupert Bevan’s studio at 11 Lonsdale Road

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