To celebrate the birth of HRH Prince George, The Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers ran a competition to “select a designer with the very best design to make a high chair celebrating excellence of British furniture design and craftsmanship”. Katie Walker one of our favourite furniture designers won it. As a stand holder upstairs in the contemporary section of our Midcentury Modern show this March 16th, you can understand how we whooped with delight. Katie was thrilled to be able to deliver the piece in person to Kensington Palace in February and, while photographs of the meeting with the Duchess of Cambridge were not permitted, Walker has been allowed to use one taken with her daughter in her studio, seen here. The chair is made in very pale rippled ash from a tree felled in the Longleat Estate in 2001 and finished with white tinted hard wax oil.  The front legs and  top rail of the backrest are steam bent so it curves around the body with the front leg of the chair flowing seamlessly into the other with a Scandinavian Nanna Ditzel-style feel.  All the other curved elements are laminated from ash veneer or birch plywood. The Master at The Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers was  delighted to receive a personal letter from the Duchess thanking  the  Company on behalf of Prince William and herself. “It was a very challenging brief – meeting the criteria laid out by British Standards for the design of such a piece whilst making it a beautifully ‘crafted’ object, says Katie who was awarded a ‘Bespoke Guild Mark’ back in December.

Windsor Rocker with sheepskin insert As part of Walker’s 20 years celebration she will be giving 10% off all orders placed on the day at the Midcentury Modern vintage and contemporary home show, a fair with the stamp of approval from media sponsor Elle Decoration, described as “Design Heaven” by Orla Kiely and visited by crowds of furniture and design enthusiasts.

Walnut Ribbon Rocker Showing for the first time will be her Ribbon rocking chair in walnut and a Windsor footstool designed to accompany the Windsor rocker. Katie will also showcase a number of Weight and See mirrors in both ash and walnut and a rarely seen side table.

Weight and See Mirror We are so excited to have a furniture designer with the Royal seal of approval at our Midcentury Modern show and expect all Ms Walker’s stunning pieces to be future collectables. Buy discounted tickets for the show here for one week only to ensure you do not miss out on this incredible discount for her latest work. See more designers in the Midcentury Modern Family at the show or in The Modern Marketplace Join us on Twitter Facebook  

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Please Note: this feature and all the written content within it belongs to Modern Shows. The photographs of furniture belong to Katie Walker. If you would like to reproduce any part of the piece or syndicate the feature in full please contact lucy@modernshows.com