About Aidan McEvoy Fine Furniture - Bespoke Furniture and Cabinet Making
Aidan McEvoy
Aidan McEvoy is a designer maker of contemporary fine furniture, with 15 years professional experience designing and making a wide variety of pieces. These range from a table commissioned for the Summerhouse at Buckingham Palace to a jewellery box purchased by the New Walk Museum & Art Gallery in Leicester to showcase the legacy of the Arts & Crafts movement.
Brought up in West Cork in Ireland, Aidan spent his youth in the family workshop helping his father, a master carpenter. By age 10 Aidan had sold his first piece, a cabinet made from scrap wood.
This early enthusiasm and ambition developed rapidly. For a secondary school woodwork exam Aidan presented the examiners, not with a table or bookstand but with a 15ft land yacht.
Inspired by the Arts and Craft movement, Aidan creates individual pieces of uniquely designed and traditionally made fine furniture.
After several years spent working in Ireland, Germany and France, absorbing their differing approaches to woodwork Aidan moved to London. Aiming to extend his project management and business knowledge alongside his craft skills, Aidan set up his first company, supplying bespoke woodworking solutions to commercial clients. He soon had a 12 strong team working on a varied portfolio, ranging from high-end shop fitting, to exclusive residential projects in Chelsea.
Over time however Aidan found himself increasingly drawn back to his first love – designing and making furniture. After travelling around South East Asia learning about their design traditions, he joined the prestigious Edward Barnsley Trust to undertake formal training in fine furniture making. Aidan was awarded a Queen Elizabeth Scholarship, one of only four QEST scholars ever to receive this award for furniture making.
After completing his training Aidan set up his own workshop in the Georgian market town of Farnham near the Surrey / Hampshire border. He now divides his time between one off commissions for private clients, designing and creating limited edition pieces and passing on his skills and knowledge by running training courses.
My designs represent forms that I have a deep passion for. Coming up with an idea, honing it and then creating a unique piece of furniture with your own hands is incredibly satisfying. More and more people are realising this. Whether they learn to make furniture themselves or commission a piece that we then collaborate on, the end result is something which people truly cherish.
In 2012 Aidan was invited to contribute a design for a table as part of the renovation of the Buckingham Palace Summerhouse, which was undertaken for the Coronation Celebrations. His proposal was accepted and Aidan presented the completed table to the Queen as part of the celebrations.
