ENTERING the shiplap-clad studios of one of the UK’s foremost craftswomen, I anticipated the spiced aroma of wood shavings, but not the whine of what sounds very much like a dentist’s drill. Master woodturner Joey Richardson, who is based near Market Rasen in Lincolnshire, is piercing the fine filigree work on one of her turned forms, carefully producing images through negative space. Her delicate wooden creations are collected and exhibited around the world—30 years of dedication and a quest for perfection ensure each hand-crafted piece is exquisite.
‘Nature, and more specifically wood, is the driving force in my sculptural practice, influencing my themes and guiding my expression,’ she explains. ‘It shapes me and, in turn, I shape it.’
At once animated and quietly focused, Mrs Richardson leads me to her turning studio, reaching for a traditional gouge to shale, or shape, the curves in the wood as it turns on the lathe. Her tools transcend the centuries. ‘My craft has evolved through both the exploration and mastering of turning, together with new, innovative skills, applying carving, texturing and airbrushing. This exciting combination of tradition and contemporary practices is informed by the past as it progresses into the future.’
This story is from the November 30, 2022 edition of Country Life UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the November 30, 2022 edition of Country Life UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Give it some stick
Galloping through the imagination, competitive hobby-horsing is a gymnastic sport on the rise in Britain, discovers Sybilla Hart
Paper escapes
Steven King selects his best travel books of 2024
For love, not money
This year may have marked the end of brag-art’, bought merely to show off one’s wealth. It’s time for a return to looking for connoisseurship, beauty and taste
Mary I: more bruised than bloody
Cast as a sanguinary tyrant, our first Queen Regnant may not deserve her brutal reputation, believes Geoffrey Munn
A love supreme
Art brought together 19th-century Norwich couple Joseph and Emily Stannard, who shared a passion for painting, but their destiny would be dramatically different
Private views
One of the best ways-often the only way-to visit the finest privately owned gardens in the country is by joining an exclusive tour. Non Morris does exactly that
Shhhhhh...
THERE is great delight to be had poring over the front pages of COUNTRY LIFE each week, dreaming of what life would be like in a Scottish castle (so reasonably priced, but do bear in mind the midges) or a townhouse in London’s Eaton Square (worth a king’s ransom, but, oh dear, the traffic) or perhaps that cottage in the Cotswolds (if you don’t mind standing next to Hollywood A-listers in the queue at Daylesford). The estate agent’s particulars will give you details of acreage, proximity to schools and railway stations, but never—no, never—an indication of noise levels.
Mission impossible
Rubble and ruin were all that remained of the early-19th-century Villa Frere and its gardens, planted by the English diplomat John Hookham Frere, until a group of dedicated volunteers came to its rescue. Josephine Tyndale-Biscoe tells the story
When a perfect storm hits
Weather, wars, elections and financial uncertainty all conspired against high-end house sales this year, but there were still some spectacular deals
Give the dog a bone
Man's best friend still needs to eat like its Lupus forebears, believes Jonathan Self, when it's not guarding food, greeting us or destroying our upholstery, of course
