Multi award-winning designer-maker Josey Garbutt (25) is one of the UK’s most promising young designer-makers.  He fostered a passion for creative processes and craftmanship from the age of six, and by sixteen he had designed and built his own workshop where he taught himself to make furniture.  After completing a Fine Art Foundation at the University of Creative Arts, Farnham, Josey went on to attain a First Class BA Honors Degree at Rycotewood Furniture Centre, Oxford.  Josey’s combined interest in mathematics, engineering, nature, and fine art heavily influences his designs, which appear visually restrained yet are underpinned by complex geometry and construction.

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Josey is a furniture designer-maker creating sculptural functional artworks inspired by natural forms, geometry, and material behaviour. Working predominantly with locally sourced hardwoods, his practice combines traditional woodworking techniques with contemporary processes, including CNC machining and hand carving.

 

His work explores the relationship between structure, texture, light, and organic form, often drawing influence from mathematics, erosion, growth patterns, and natural geometry. Although visually restrained, many pieces involve highly complex construction, engineered detailing, and extensive hand finishing.