Homegirl London pays homage to Joined and Jointed (Joined + Jointed). This is a collective of celebrated artisans and designers who share a love of contemporary design and outstanding craft. They create original and exclusive solid wood furniture – dining tables and chairs, armchairs, sofas, benches, stools, desks, cabinets and much more.
Meet the Joined and Jointed Designer
The Joined and Jointed collective is spearheaded by award winning designer Samuel Chan. Chan is enthusiastic about bringing high quality and desirable furniture to the consumer at competitive prices. He champions working with wood as the material of choice and shares this passion with his highly skilled colleagues.
Joined and Jointed – Samuel Chan
Samuel’s design career really grew from his love of woodworking as a schoolboy – “I had a wonderful woodworking master called Mr Knock, who encouraged me to go into furniture design.” After school he trained as a furniture designer – a degree at Middlesex and then a Masters at Buckinghamshire University. He then went on to work in hotel interior design with a major London studio.
In 1995 Samuel decided to launch his own venture called ‘Channels’ focussing on bespoke contemporary furniture design. He now runs Channels alongside his latest endeavour – Joined and Jointed. The inspiration for setting up Joined and Jointed came about because of the increase of people buying furniture online – “I wanted to respond to this by offering something different from keenly-priced furniture. The focus instead was to showcase new, original designs that people will want to buy because it’s been beautifully realised. Price, especially online, is important, but so too is authentic quality. Joined and Jointed can deliver on both fronts because of the fact that I have my own, established in-house manufacturing.”
Samuel tells me that the name Joined and Jointed expresses what the brand stands for – “It’s the collaborative effort with designers and makers to create unique furniture pieces, wanting others to join in and discover our love of furniture design and craft. The name also refers to the way a piece of furniture is put together.”
View the Joined and Jointed Collection
The Joined and Jointed style is contemporary, clean design that is particularly mindful of line, proportion and scale. Chan says – “Early in my career, I was very grateful to one design commentator who observed – There is an uncommon logic to Chan’s designs. It’s something I’ve tried to live up to ever since.”
The focus is on wooden furniture pieces – “Wood is an endlessly fascinating material – a living, breathing thing. People have crafted with wood for such a long time, but it is still possible to do new things with it. You can be innovative using traditional handcraft, or exploring the latest production technology. I love furniture designs that allow the wood material to express itself with integrity – such pieces only improve over time and inspire great affection in their users.”
Chan’s own contribution is the Pallet Drawer System, a design that allows the user to stack as many individual ‘layers’ of drawers as they wish. It’s called ‘Pallet’ because it echoes the way transportation pallets stack.
Samuel Chan – Pallet Drawer System
Freshwest: Lazy series – this construction was inspired from collapsible thumb toys.
Freshwest – Lazy Little Chair
Alex Hellum: Vic Chairs – demonstrates an innovative approach to plywood.
Alex Hellum – Vic Chair
Henrik Sorig: Homestation Desk – provides a base for working at home.
Henrik Sorig – Homestation Desk
Simon Pengelly: Concave Bookcase – is monumentally concave in form.
Simon Pengelly – Concave Bookcase
Wales & Wales: Span Dining Table – an excellent example of what they call a “refined vernacular style.”
Wales & Wales – Span Dining Table
Sean Yoo: Willow Chair – very graceful.
Sean Yoo – Willow Chair
Buy the Joined and Jointed Products
You can buy the products from Jointed and Jointed. Price guide: Chairs £175-545, Armchairs £395-745, Sofas £795-1265 and Dining Tables £295-825.
Author: Homegirl London. Photography: Joined and Jointed. Thanks: Samuel Chan and Catrin Jones.
