James Clarke

James Clarke

Clarke is an accomplished bespoke furniture designer and maker. At the helm of True Bespoke, Clarke is creative director and ensures that only the finest furnishings leave their workshop in Bristol. Having spent the last 20 years fitting out desirable residencies from the South of France to Moscow, Clarke has the right stuff.

Design

Leather Bound

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There are constants in life. Some of which are present to such an extent that they become overlooked – taken for granted if you like – and therefore, their importance dismissed. The presence of leather in luxury goods is an example of this. Leather is deeply rooted in the luxury market, and rightly so. Although, historically, leather production has become industrialised and readily available to the working man, there’s a world of difference between a finely-tanned hide crafted from Hereford beef stock and those being mass-produced for the commercial market coming out of the Far East and India. Chalk and cheese. I spent a couple of days in September wandering…

Design

Charles Rennie Mackintosh

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Charles Rennie Mackintosh, 1868 -1928, by James Clarke Charles Rennie Mackintosh has always intrigued me. Odd, given that while I appreciate the nuances of the Nouveau movement, I’ve never really been swayed by it – preferring instead, the boldness and opulence of Art Deco. Perhaps it’s Mackintosh’s defiance in the face of adversity that I admire? The son of a Glaswegian police superintendant, and one of a brood of eleven, he was fortunate to have the opportunity to nourish his creativity and pursue his passion in design and architecture during the late 1800s. Following his apprenticeship as an architectural draftsman at John Honeyman’s practice in Glasgow, he went on to…