OUR STORY
We are Isaac and Alex Chatterton, the husband and wife behind Chatterton Studio. Our story began at a furniture exhibition, and our life together continues to be a furniture exhibition.
The studio brings together Isaac’s background in furniture design and making and Alex’s background in graphic design. Isaac leads the design and making, while Alex shapes the studio’s direction and presentation.
Much of the work develops between us through conversation, living with our pieces and allowing ideas to evolve over time.
MAKING
Isaac’s first workshop was under his parents’ house in Newmarket, Brisbane, before packing up shop and heading to upstate New York, where he spent two years apprenticing under artist and craftsperson Joshua Vogel. It was there that he developed a deep respect for traditional woodworking and a particular love for making chairs.
He remains fascinated by the history of furniture making and often looks to the past for inspiration. Old machinery and traditional tooling are still central to the workshop, allowing decisions to be made by hand, eye and feel.
The mark of the human hand is important to us. Beauty is not an abstraction, but something experienced through material, proportion, touch and light.
OUR PRACTICE
We make work we’re instinctively drawn to. Ideas begin through sketches and conversations before taking shape in the workshop through making, testing and refinement.
One project tends to lead naturally to another. A form, material, colour or way of making might carry forward, change direction or become the starting point for something completely different. We like to leave room for spontaneity and for the work to find its own way.
Our home is an ever-changing landscape of forms and configurations, resembling a lived-in gallery or, as some friends call it, the ‘Chatterton showroom’. It is where much of our work is lived with and refined over time.
Some projects begin with us, while others begin through a commission or collaboration. In either case, we are most interested in work that feels natural to the practice and gives the project room to develop.
MATERIALS
We work exclusively with solid timber, never veneer or overlays. It allows us to create pieces with a sense of weight, warmth and groundedness, while honouring the natural beauty of the material. We typically work with American hardwoods: Cherry, Oak, Ash and Walnut and slow growing Pines like Hoop and Douglas Fir (Oregon) when available.
Material often becomes a starting point for the work, influencing its form, proportion and finish.
Knots, sap lines, changes in grain and other natural markings are embraced where possible. Rather than trying to make timber appear uniform, we prefer to work with the qualities already present in it.