A Measured Approach to Making
The Arts and Crafts movement was never about style alone. At its core, it was a philosophy of restraint, integrity, and responsibility, a belief that objects made for daily life should be honest in their construction, respectful of material, and shaped by the hand and mind of the maker. This philosophy of Arts and Crafts furniture making remains central to how we approach design, material selection, and making today.
Figures such as Ernest Gimson championed an approach to making that resisted excess and industrial anonymity. His work, and that of workshops such as Kenton & Co placed value not on speed or uniformity, but on thoughtful process, proportion, and the quiet confidence of well-made things. The furniture that emerged from this way of thinking was not designed to impress immediately, but to belong — to rooms, to lives, and to time itself.
Finch & Fettle sits consciously within this lineage.
Our work is not a recreation of the past, nor an exercise in historic imitation. Rather, it is informed by the same principles that underpinned the Arts and Crafts movement: clarity of purpose, respect for material, and an understanding that making well requires patience and judgement. These ideas continue to resonate today, particularly in a world where furniture is often reduced to surface and speed.
The Cotswolds and the workshop tradition
By the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, the Cotswolds had become a quiet but significant centre for the Arts & Crafts movement. This was not accidental. The region offered something increasingly rare elsewhere: a continuity of local materials, vernacular building traditions, and an environment where craft could still be practised as a way of life rather than a novelty.
William Morris played a key role in this shift, spending long periods at Kelmscott Manor from the 1870s onwards. His presence helped root Arts & Crafts ideals in the landscape, not as a style, but as a philosophy tied to rural life, honest materials, and meaningful labour.
In the 1890s, figures such as Ernest Gimson and the Barnsley brothers followed that pull, settling in villages across the Cotswolds. Their work moved furniture making away from urban workshops and back into the countryside, where architecture, furniture, and interiors could be conceived as a whole. Craft was no longer separate from daily life; it was embedded within it.
This momentum deepened in 1902 when C.R. Ashbee relocated the Guild of Handicraft from London to Chipping Campden. The move was both practical and ideological, an attempt to establish a working community where skilled making, shared values, and teaching could coexist. Although the Guild itself was relatively short-lived, its influence on the area and on British craft more widely, was lasting.
What emerged from the Cotswolds during this period was not a single look, but a shared discipline: clarity of construction, respect for material, and an understanding that good work comes from continuity, of knowledge, of place, and of practice.
Our use of local, sustainably sourced hardwoods is only the starting point. Material selection is never approached generically. Each project begins with careful consideration of timber species, grain structure, colour movement, and long-term behaviour. Oak, ash, elm, or walnut are not interchangeable choices; each brings its own rhythm and temperament. The selection of boards for a specific piece is guided by how they will sit alongside other materials — metal, stone, textiles — and how they will respond to the environment they are entering.
Light plays a central role in these decisions. North-facing rooms demand a different approach to timber tone than those flooded with southern light. Seasonal variation matters too; timber that feels balanced in summer can read cold or overly dominant in winter if not properly judged. Our role as makers is to anticipate these changes and allow for them, not to fight them.
This measured approach extends beyond material into proportion and construction. We aim for furniture that does not announce itself unnecessarily, but reveals its quality through use and time. Joinery is considered for longevity first, aesthetics second, though the two are rarely separate. When something is properly made, the visual calm tends to follow naturally.
At Finch & Fettle, making is not treated as a linear process with a fixed outcome from the outset. It is a dialogue between material, space, and intention. Decisions are revisited, adjusted, and refined as understanding deepens. This is slower work by nature, but it is also more resilient, designed to age with grace rather than date with fashion.
In an era of constant acceleration, this way of working may appear restrained. We see it as essential. Furniture should support life quietly and properly, carrying the marks of thoughtful making rather than the noise of trend. That belief continues to guide every piece that leaves our workshop.