Timber! Furniture designer John Makepeace on what makes wood great

"Woodworking skills came to me easily through a combination of reading, observation and practice. With my growing interest in forestry, I have come to realise what an extraordinary luxury fine timber represents. The thought that no two pieces of wood are the same still amazes me. I think it is the totality that I enjoy so much. There is so much involved in sourcing the materials, understanding the nature of them and how you put them together, and learning how you can do that better; how technology impacts and how design can be more effective; and how furniture can communicate."

"We design chairs for everybody. They are all comfortable. It is such a rare experience to sit on a really comfortable chair. The science of seating has been well researched. When this is imaginatively applied, it is possible to seat people of very different heights and physique in comfort. Too many chairs ignore the principles."

"Whenever I see a really exceptional tree in a lumberyard I will often buy it in order to be able to offer clients a wide range of choice of indigenous woods. Among my clients are the owners of great estates where their forests have been magnificently managed over the centuries, producing wood of the highest quality. For them it is advantageous to sell these to me rather than to the sawmilling trade."

"It is hard to say as I love the whole sequence, from discussing new projects with clients, working through various possibilities in the design process, discussing the proposals with the client, selecting the materials and overseeing the making through to installation."

"I find it best to develop concepts through drawing, model-making and full-size mock-ups. These then go onto the computer. This provides a high degree of precision in three-dimensional forms, enabling an efficient means of practical and aesthetic refinement before making any prototypes.