Rod and Alison Wales set up their furniture business in the south of England in 1980. Since then Wales & Wales have gained a reputation for timeless, intelligent design, emerging from a craft background without being confined by it. The experience of making contributes clarity and refinement to their design for production as much as to the one-offs or short runs from their own workshop.

Over the past 15 years they have designed some of the world’s most beautiful street furniture now available in the UK exclusively through Luke Hughes and Company (www.lukehughes.co.uk) and in the USA through Forms & Surfaces (www.forms-surfaces.com). Not only do they offer a constantly growing standard range in wood, steel, aluminium and stone but also design for individual and specific projects. Wales & Wales furniture confers a unique, responsive aesthetic identity to the landscape or street.

Their clients include private individuals, companies of all shapes and sizes, institutions, churches, local authorities, even government ministries. Their work, whether speculative or commissioned, is made to be used. However over the years some pieces have been acquired for public collections, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Recently returned from teaching the spring semester at Kansas University, USA, Rod and Alison are in Australia to teach a six week course at the Australian School of Fine Furniture in Tasmania.

Wales & Wales FRSA: Curriculum Vitae

1980-81 Martin Grierson, London - Assistant

1978-80 Parnham College, Parnham House, Dorset - Furniture design and craftsmanship

1977-78 Furniture School, Buckinghamshire College of Higher Education - Technician

1975-77 Rycotewood College, Oxfordshire - Furniture craftsmanship

1979-80 John Makepeace Furniture, Dorset - Trainee

1978-79 Rycotewood College, Oxfordshire

1970-74 Reading University B.A. (Hons) Fine Art

1986 Selected for Crafts Council Index

1981 Longbarn Workshop established with Alison Wales Design and production of high quality one-off furniture and limited batch production.

Wales & Wales : Design for Manufacturers

Cloverleaf Group : bathroom furniture ranges

Englender Furniture Ltd : Butterfly Chair

Garpa GmbH, Germany : public seating

McDonalds Restaurants Ltd : restaurant furniture

Luke Hughes and Company Ltd : street furniture

Forms and Surfaces, USA : street furniture

CS Furniture : table ranges

2004 Visiting professors for spring semester : University of Kansas, USA

2002/5 Crafts Council Trustee

2001/4 Crafts Council photostore selection committee

2001/3 External Examiner: Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College External Examiner: Edinburgh College of Art

1988-2002 Visiting lecturer to various universities, colleges and conferences in the UK and USA including Rhode Island School of Design and The Centre for Furniture Craftsmanship, Maine

1988 Design tutor at Parnham College

1985-89 Part time tutor at Brighton Polytechnic Department of Wood, Metal, Ceramics and Plasicst

Victoria and Albert Museum : Cabinet of 10 drawers

Cheltenham Art Gallery and Museum : Shift - chest of drawers

Shipley Art Gallery : Shelf with two drawers

Crafts Council Collection : Sine Screen

Manchester City Art Gallery : Sine Screen

West Dean House : Conductors stand/lectern

Showcase for South East Arts craft collection

South East Arts Collection: Stripe Series mirror

Arts Foundation/Po-Shing Woo Foundation Fellowship for Furniture Making

Bayerische Staatspreis, (gold Medal) : Street furniture

FX Design Award: Contract Interiors : DB Bench

Three Guild Marks awarded by the Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers

Woodworker Award for Form and Function

Manchester Prize for Art in Production : Sine Screen

Design Week Award : Sine Screen

Collect : Victoria and Albert Museum Onetree

High Flyers: Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London

British Studio Furniture: Cork Street, London

Spectrum: London

The Woodcarvers Craft: Crafts Council, London

The Furnished Landscape: Crafts Council, London

Sothebys: London

Contemporary Arts Today: Bonhams, London

100% Design, London

Interior Design International: London

Manchester City Art Gallery

Sripey Drawers: Geffrye Museum, London (2001/2)

Classic : Brussels, Belgium

Exempla \'95: International Handwerksmesse, Munchen, Germany

In the Swim: Bremerhaven, Germany

International Contemporary Furniture Fair: New York

Chess Chairs: Broadgate, London

Gallery Seating: Natural History Museum, London Hove Museum, East Sussex Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow Saltwell Towers, Gateshead

Office Refurbishment: Department of National Heritage, London

Boardroom tables: National Art Collections Fund, London Co-operative Retail Services, Rochdale Guild of Master Craftsmen, Lewes Len Medlock Volunteer Centre, Boston

Reception desks: McDonalds\' Restaurants Ltd, London headquarters

Conquest Hospital, Hastings

South East Arts, Tunbridge Wells

Guild of Master Craftsmen, Lewes

Len Medlock Volunteer Centre, Boston

Grace Barrand Design Centre

Chapel furniture: St Mary\'s Hospital, Isle of Wight Conquest Hospital, Hastings

City Centre, Dubai

Alexandrium 111, Rotterdam

Chicago Beach Resort, Dubai

Brucken Centre, Ansbach, Germany

Canary Wharf, London

Ludgate Plaza, London

St Katherines Dock, London

Leatherhead town centre refurbishment

City of Bath

Cambridge City Council

National Botanic Garden of Wales

Glasgow Green, Scotland

The Eden Project, Cornwall

Bluewater, Kent

Haldensleben, Germany

City Centre, Dubai

Alexandrium 111, Rotterdam

Chicago Beach Resort, Dubai

Brucken Centre, Ansbach, Germany