Noah Kay and Ben Hooperwere latecomers to theworld of furniture design.Choosing to step awayfrom the nine-to-five infavour of the chisel andlathe, the pair met whilestudying at London’sprestigious Building CraftsCollege. Now they work from awarehouse in Bristol, craftingwooden tables, desks andaccessories that are as effortlessly cool as they areenvironmentally friendly.
Tell us about your background
Noah: I started off going touniversity in Bristol, studyingarchitecture and engineering. Ithen went travelling, beforemoving back to England andworking with my stepdad,who is a blacksmith. I’d neverworked with my hands before,but I fell in love with it. Ieventually enrolled in theFine Woodwork and FurnitureMaking course.
Ben: My uncle and grandadwere both bench joiners, so I’vealways been surrounded bymaking. Music was my firstcareer: I studied it and thenwent on to teach musictechnology. I wasn’tparticularly happy as a teacher,so I took redundancy to exploreother career paths. A friendrecommended I enrol in theBuilding Crafts College course,which is where I met Noah.
How and why did you startKnotch Design?
N: We got on really well andwent out for a drink on the firstday of the course. We quicklydiscovered that we were bothobsessed with artisan coffee.
B: Noah and I have a verysimilar approach when itcomes to designing andmaking furniture. We havedifferent ideas, but they workwell together. After wefinished our course, weattended trade and designshows. We were approached bybrands to work as productdevelopers, but neither of uswanted to create other people’sdesigns, so we decided to setsomething up together. Weboth spent a year working fordeVOL as kitchen fitters, whichgave us the money to invest intools and sort out our businessplan, and now we’ve beentrading as Knotch Designfor over a year.
What’s your aim?
B: Our long-term goal is todevelop our own range offurniture, alongside bespokepieces. We’re currentlyprototyping new designs.
N: We’re really inspired byScandinavian and Japanesedesigns, as well asarchitectural and sculpturalforms. And many of ourdesigns come from ideas ofsustainability and the sense ofcommunity in Bristol.
Are you influenced by anyother designers?
B: I love the work of Charlesand Ray Eames.
N: There’s a designer calledGeorge Nakashima, and Ithink his pieces are justbeautiful. I also love the workof Finn Juhl.
Talk us through your process
N: Sometimes we’re in themiddle of a creative slump,but something will sparkinspiration and the ideas pourout. We’ll then draw upon eachother to pick our designs apartand create the final piece.
B: My favourite part of creatinga piece is the prototyping stage.It usually takes three or fourattempts to make a final design.
Describe your workshop
N: We’ve recently moved,which has been a revelation.
B: Our last studio was freezingas it was previously used forpacking meat. The newworkshop has lots of space andnatural light – it’s had a hugeimpact on our productivity.
What has been your proudestmoment to date?
N: There’s an immense senseof satisfaction when you applythe finishing touches to a piece.We recently made a huge dining table forsomeone. Theywere thrilledwhen webrought it intothe house –especially as ittook six of us tocarry it!
See more fromNoah and Ben atknotch.design