Gareth Jones uses traditional hand tools and techniques to create unique relief carvings, furniture and lettering. Working mainly in locally sourced Devon hardwoods his work, while being steeped in regional vernacular and the Arts & Crafts, has a contemporary thought provoking appeal.

A pig bench is a long, low bench which would once have been a common feature on small holdings and farmsteads throughout Wales. The practical purpose of these benches is usually born out through their scarred and scrubbed appearance, seen when one comes up for sale at an auction or antique centre.

 

...Not anymore!

 

As an homage to the tyddynwyr (Welsh crofters) and the self-sufficient farmers of his ancestral land Gareth Ifor Jones has created this unique and beautiful bench to playfully take it’s place in kitchen, hallway or restaurant.  The ‘torched’ Ash seat is complete with a woodcut image of our porcine friend, his constituent parts annotated in the Welsh language. The lettering has been V-cut in a ‘Gill sans’- style font.

 

The woodwork and joinery are true to the time-honoured methods used in the making of traditional country furniture.  Gareth has used only hand tools to make this bench  - maybe he spent just a little extra time with cabinet scraper and polishing mitt than the makers of old!

 

The wood is mid-Devon Ash with reclaimed black Oak used for the wedges. The cork pads underneath the legs are to protect the floor. The through-socketed legs are glued with hot pearl (hide) glue.The legs, rails and top are finished with shellac sealer and beeswax-turpentine polish. The ‘scorped’ underside is finished with linseed oil and Stockholm tar and then beeswax-turpentine polish.

This tough and solid bench will last for the many centuries to come.

Recipient of the English Riviera Summer Open Exhibition 2022 // Traditional Practice Award

 

Mid Devon Ash and Reclaimed Black Oak

167.64x44.45x38cm