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Friday Five with Daniel Schofield

We’ve featured the work of young British designer Daniel Schofield for a few years now and with each launch it becomes clear that he’s skillfully carving out his permanent place in the design world. After studying art and graphics, he took an apprenticeship in carpentry that had him building houses and offices, along with restoring historic buildings, which helped drive his appreciation for the small details. Eventually, Schofield went back to school and earned a degree in furniture and product design, where he found his true calling. In just five short years, the award-winning designer has worked with brands like Conran, Benchmark, and Scandium, proving he’s got what it takes to produce beautiful work that’s here to stay. This Friday Five gets a deeper look into the world of Daniel Schofield and how he thinks.

1. Sketching
A bit cliche I know! But it’s something I do daily. I increasingly find myself on trains, buses and planes and find this a good time to think and sketch. I take a small Moleskine notebook with me almost everywhere I go, they do the small plain cahier notebooks which fit well in your pocket and have rounded corners so they don’t get dog eared – I like small details like this. I always put my name and number in them, I’ve lost a few but they have always found their way home through other people’s kindness which is nice!

2. Visiting factories and workshops
A constant source of inspiration, the above image is from a glass factory in Italy.

3. Japanese saw
They are always very elegant, light, and function well. As opposed to the European type saws that cut on the push – Japanese saws cut on the pull stroke so you get a finer cut as the metal doesn’t bend.

Farnsworth House by Mies Van Der Rohe \\\ Photo source

4. Architecture
Before I studied design I did a carpentry apprenticeship, building and restoring houses, offices and public spaces. I didn’t realise it at the time but it’s gone onto really influence my work and approach to form, details and materials. I’m always amazed by the work of people like Le Corbousier and Mies Van Der Rohe. The dream is to one day design and build my own house!

5. Sir Terence Conran
Over the past year or so I’ve had the opportunity to work closely with Sir Terence on some of the many design projects he is involved with. What he has done for design in Britain and globally is phenomenal. He has some amazing stories and is a bank of knowledge about design and the arts, I’m always quizzing him on his thoughts and opinions and he’s very generous with his time with me for which I’m very grateful.

Caroline Williamson is Editor-in-Chief of Design Milk. She has a BFA in photography from SCAD and can usually be found searching for vintage wares, doing New York Times crossword puzzles in pen, or reworking playlists on Spotify.