The Marchmont Workshop is one of the most heart-warming and optimistic stories of craft ingenuity and endeavour today, demonstrating the power of craft to hold hands with past, present and future. Sam Cooper and Richard Platt founded The Marchmont Workshop in 2020 on the Marchmont Estate, after completing an apprenticeship with Lawrence Neal, one of the last remaining practitioners of the traditional rush chairs in the UK, before his retirement. Sam and Richard do more than keep the tradition alive, passed mind to hand down six generations, they bring their own design backgrounds to the techniques they have mastered, introducing contemporary furniture into the future lexicon of heritage craft too. Designed, in their own words ‘from tree to home’, each piece of furniture is hand crafted from local hardwoods sourced from woodlands around The Marchmont Workshop in the Scottish Borders. Every chair has a light but long-lasting seat woven from hand-picked common river rushes.

What role does Craft play in daily life?

Craft is an ever present and unavoidable part of life for us. It's always evolving, changing how we think and how we work, but it's also so much more than that, it's a way to express yourself.

To us, some of the best things in life are made by hand. The hours spent learning, the skills developed and the stories told, give us a wonderful connection not just to the object but to the maker as well.

What does Scottishness mean to you?

Unexpected sunshine, cold water, hard frosts and roaring fires. As unpredictable and wild as it is warm and welcoming.