Katie Walker (April 12, 1969) is a British

furniture designer This is a list of notable people whose primary occupation is furniture design. A * Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) * Eero Aarnio (born 1932) * Robert Adam (1728-1792) * Thomas Affleck (1745-1795) * Franco Albini (1905-1977) * Davis Allen (1916-1999) * ...

well known for combining simple components in her work. Her designs combine the function of the object with a sculptural interpretation of its structure. She works with craft and volume manufacturers and produces specific one-off commissions from a variety of materials.

Education

She first studied

Furniture Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Fu ...

and Related Product

Design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...

at London's

Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication Ravensbourne may refer to: * Ravensbourne, Queensland, in Australia * Ravensbourne National Park, in Australia * Ravensbourne, London, in the London Borough of Bromley ** Ravensbourne railway station, serving the above area ** Ravensbourne (UK Parl ...

and went on to study for an MA in Furniture Design at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...

Notable work

As a furniture designer and business person (she runs Katie Walker Furniture), Katie designs pieces for batch production and for one-off commissions. Most of these pieces are made by Katie Walker Furniture. Selected commissions include: *1993 Public seating for National Heritage,

Bushy Park Bushy Park in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames is the second largest of London's Royal Parks, at in area, after Richmond Park. The park, most of which is open to the public, is immediately north of Hampton Court Palace and Hampton ...

Teddington Teddington is a suburb in south-west London in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. In 2021, Teddington was named as the best place to live in London by ''The Sunday Times''. Historically in Middlesex, Teddington is situated on a long m ...

*1994 Boardroom, reception and terrace furniture for Parallel Media Group plc, London *1996 Boardroom table and chairs,

Prince's Trust The Prince's Trust ( cy, Ymddiriedolaeth y Tywysog) is a charity in the United Kingdom founded in 1976 by King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) to help vulnerable young people get their lives on track. It supports 11-to-30-year-olds who are u ...

headquarters, Regents Park *1998 Seating for

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

Leather Museum *2000 Reception area seating, South East Arts,

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the Weald, High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Roc ...

*2000 Seating for

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Englan ...

City Art Gallery and Museum *2000,02 Public seating for Allied London Properties Ltd. The Swan shopping Centre,

Leatherhead Leatherhead is a town in the Mole Valley District of Surrey, England, about south of Central London. The settlement grew up beside a ford on the River Mole, from which its name is thought to derive. During the late Anglo-Saxon period, Leath ...

and St. Christophers Place,

St. Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major town on the old Roman ro ...

*2002 Seating for

Hove Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th cen ...

Museum & Art Gallery *2002 Altar, lectern and candlesticks for St. Nicholas' church,

Arundel Arundel ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Arun District of the South Downs, West Sussex, England. The much-conserved town has a medieval castle and Roman Catholic cathedral. Arundel has a museum and comes second behind much large ...

*2004 Reception desk and retail display for

Farnham Farnham ( /ˈfɑːnəm/) is a market town and civil parish in Surrey, England, around southwest of London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, close to the county border with Hampshire. The town is on the north branch of the River Wey, a trib ...

Crafts Study Centre The Crafts Study Centre is a university museum of modern crafts, located next to the entrance of the University for the Creative Arts at Farnham, Surrey. The Crafts Study Centre holds collections of 20th and 21st century British craft, primar ...

Award-winning pieces include: * Ribbon Rocking Chair (winner of the Wesley Barrell Craft Award and both the Wood Awards Furniture and Innovation Awards in 2006) *Weight and See Mirror (the original of which toured the UK with the "One-Tree" Exhibition) *Gallery seating (holder of Guildmark 250 from the

Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers The Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers referred to as The Furniture Makers' Company, is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. The organisation was formed in 1952, and was granted Livery status by the City in 1963 being the 83 ...

) *Eyers Dining Group – a private commission

Exhibitions

*1993 'Walk don't Walk', street furniture exhibition at

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

s' 'Visionfest' *1994 The Hannah Peschar Sculpture Garden, Oxted, Surrey *1995, 96, 98 'Decorative Arts Today',

Bonhams Bonhams is a privately owned international auction house and one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. It was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son & Neale. This brought to ...

, London *1995, 96, 97, 98, 99, 01 '100% Design', London *1996,97 The Garden Gallery,

Stockbridge, Hampshire Stockbridge is a small town and civil parish in the Test Valley district of Hampshire, England. It is one of the smallest towns in the United Kingdom with a population of 592 at the 2011 census. It sits astride the River Test and at the foot of ...

*1996 'Living at Belsay',

Belsay Belsay is a village and civil parish in Northumberland, England. The village is about 5 miles from Ponteland on the A696, which links the village with Newcastle upon Tyne and Jedburgh. The population of the civil parish was 436 at the 2001 censu ...

Hall, Northumberland *1996, 97 'Design Resolutions',

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a Grade I l ...

, London *1997 'The Garden'
The Harley Gallery

Worksop Worksop ( ) is a market town in the Bassetlaw District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is located east-south-east of Sheffield, close to Nottinghamshire's borders with South Yorkshire and Derbyshire, on the River Ryton and not far from the nor ...

*1997, 2002, 2004 The Grace Barrand Design Centre, Nutfield,

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

*1997 'Almost Edible' Six Chapel Row Gallery,

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

*1998 The Hill House,

Helensburgh Helensburgh (; gd, Baile Eilidh) is an affluent coastal town on the north side of the Firth of Clyde in Scotland, situated at the mouth of the Gareloch. Historically in Dunbartonshire, it became part of Argyll and Bute following local governm ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

*1998 'Katie Walker Furniture' Hove Museum & Art Gallery *1999, 01 A Celebration of Craftsmanship,

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

*2001/ 2002 'onetree':

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) is a scientific centre for the study of plants, their diversity and conservation, as well as a popular tourist attraction. Founded in 1670 as a physic garden to grow medicinal plants, today it occupies ...

; Tenants Hall,

Tatton Park Tatton Park is an historic estate in Cheshire, England, north of the town of Knutsford. It contains a mansion, Tatton Hall, a medieval manor house, Tatton Old Hall, Tatton Park Gardens, a farm and a deer park of . It is a popular visitor attr ...

, Cheshire;

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

City Art Gallery; the

Geffrye Museum The Museum of the Home, formerly the Geffrye Museum, is a free museum in the 18th-century Grade I-listed former almshouses on Kingsland Road in Shoreditch, London. The museum explores home and home life from 1600 to the present day with gallerie ...

, London *2002 Chelsea Crafts Fair, London *2004 'New Member Focus', Contemporary Applied Arts, London *2006 Collect *2006 Origin

Personal life

Katie is married and has two daughters. She lives in West Sussex, UK. She is a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

, A member of Design Nation and a member of Contemporary Applied Arts.

References

*"Walker's Way" – Country House, Issue 02, April 2007 *"Going for bespoke" – Rebecca Tanquerary, Sunday Times 11 March 2007
"How to spend it, Skinny by Curvaceous"
– Sue Webster, Financial Times, 14 Jun 2002
"Rock of Ages"
– Sudi Piggott, Fincancial Times, 26 May 2007, *International Design Yearbook, ed.

Richard Sapper Richard Sapper (30 May 1932 – 31 December 2015) was a German industrial designer based in Milan, Italy. He is considered one of the most important designers of his generation, his products typically featuring a combination of technical innovat ...

& Michael Horsham, Abbeville Press Inc., 1998 *"The Guild Marks" – Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers, 2005 *"One tree" – Garry Olson, Peter Toaig, and Gary Olsen, Merrell Publishers Ltd 2001 *"Bespoke" – A Source book of Furniture Designer Makers, Betty Norbury, 2007

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Katie Living people 1969 births British furniture designers