Award winning furniture designer maker and woodworking  author Jeremy Broun offers an exciting new course for beginners in Bath. Just 36 hours spread over 12 evening classes !

'Design' tends to be a buzzword and the domain of TV gurus but how would you like to learn how to design and make simple and useful items of modern furniture or woodwork ?

'There is nothing quite so satisfying as making something in wood that you have designed yourself' says Jeremy Broun who has been at the cutting edge of innovative wood design in the UK since the 70's. He has taught at several of the major furniture colleges (Rycotewood, The Furniture College in Ireland and also in Finland).

Course Objective   -  to enable beginners at woodwork to acquire sufficient confidence and key skills to tackle individual projects of their choosing (ranging from designing and making a garden gate, coffee table, kitchen cabinet to CD storage unit).

Key making skills  -   marking & measuring, planing, sawing, chiselling, drilling, screwing, sanding and finishing. Accessible power tools such as a chopsaw , bandsaw, biscuit jointer and router are also covered.

Key designing skills - Jeremy Broun demonstrates his unique design problem solving strategy (The JKB design wheel) and throughout the course freehand sketching is enouraged as a vital tool for problem solving and decision making.  The key to designing is not to start with the solution (eg. a pre-conceived idea that a table has four legs on each corner) but allow ideas to roll. Solutions evolve from a series of questions of 'what if ?' and by playing with the material.

Course content  -  This intensive 36-hour course is divided into three carefully structured creative projects whereby students interpret strict design and make briefs into  individual solutions :

Project One  - timber forming by reduction & addition (the essence of shaping and connecting wood. Using basic hand processes.

Project Two  - basic panel and frame construction using off the shelf veneered chipboard and solid wood. Using hand & power tools.
Joints include : halving, dowel, biscuit & dovetail. Rebating with the router. Designing a useful item using  frame and panel construction.

Project Three - 'Design and make a small container for a specific use
that expresses the concept of 'dovetail' in both its structure and the aesthetic'. A box with four dovetail joints on each corner is not what is required of this brief. Explore a variety of materials.

Student requirements  - Commitment,  enthusiasm and an open mind are the essential requirements. Some prior creative experience is an advantage where hand skill is used but experience in traditional woodwork can actually be a hindrance because it often means unlearning inefficient,  slow methods !

Timetable -  The course will run on a Wednesday evening from 6.30 to 9.30pm for twelve weeks. The course runs three times a year starting September, January and April. (Check dates by email).

Course fee   - The all inclusive cost is £260. A £50 deposit is requested.
Fees cannot be refunded unless the course is cancelled. Considering the highly structured course content, this fee represents excellent value for money as not only are materials included in the price, also a copy of Jeremy Broun's award winning book The Encyclopedia of Woodworking Techniques (one of the top books on woodworking and design currently available and full of tips and inspiration).

Jeremy Broun won the Professional 'Woodworker of the year 2005' Award . The Woodworker magazine sponsored by Ryobi Power Tools.