Home
Welcome to my website. I am a furniture designer, maker and tutor. Since completing my training at Parnham College in 1979, I have run my own business designing and making bespoke furniture to commission for individual clients. I now mainly teach, using the skills and experience I have gained over the years to help todays students develop their knowledge and love of working with wood.
Over the past 40 years I have also undertaken work for a number of different designers such as Wales & Wales and Illingworth & Partridge. In particular, between 1990 and 2001, I was senior craftsman in the John Makepeace Workshops at Parnham House. Here I was able to develop new techniques and skills whilst working on a wide variety of John’s designs.
I have also had the privilege of working in collaboration with highly skilled craftsmen from other disciplines, such as the clock maker Julius Schoonhoven. Together we made contemporary longcase clocks, such as ‘Grace’, with handmade movements in brass.
‘Grace’, my ‘Somerset Chair’, and a display cabinet made for the Worshipful Company of Cordwainers have all received Guild Mark awards from the Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers. You can see these pieces and other work that I have made, in the Gallery of Tom’s Work.
I now run weekly furniture making classes from my workshop in Somerset. In addition to this I run short courses from West Dean College in West Sussex, and am a regular visiting instructor at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Maine, USA.
Three very different projects recently completed by students at my workshop. All crisply made. Lovely to see them create their own work.
#furnituremaking #furnituredesign #woodwork #boxes #tables #desks #chestofdrawers
Happy students on my recent dovetail course at @westdeancollege They all made their first ever dovetailed boxes to a really high standard. Great group, well done.
#westdeancollege #furnituremakingcourses #boxes #woodworking
After two intense busy weeks developing their forms for projects, the students on the curvature course @woodschoolmaine with @ykcurio and I, have managed to achieve some great results. All are prototypes for future projects.
It’s been a pleasure teaching with Yuri and working with all the students, with invaluable help from our assistant Wesley @backtobitterman.
#woodschoolmaine #curvatures #bendingwood #steambending #coopering #kerfbending #furnituremakingcourses #furnituremaking
I’ve been teaching ‘curvatures’ with the marvellous @ykcurio at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship @woodschoolmaine As ever lots of energy from the students and some great bending projects. Including kerf bending, steam bending, laminating, coopering and any other ways we can bend wood!
#curvatures #bendingwood #steambending #furnituremakingcourses #woodschoolmaine #laminating
Another course successfully completed by my four happy students @westdeancollege They all made a side table using cherry and sycamore, to a really good standard.
#westdeancollege #woodworking #furnituremaking #furnituremakingcourses #table
This group of students are making great progress of their table project @westdeancollege Joints cut and fitted, and tops glued up.
#westdeancollege #woodworking #furnituremakingcourses #furnituremaking
Starting another course @westdeancollege with four great students. This time they’re making a small side table. Here chopping out the mortises, having done all the marking out yesterday.
#westdeancollege #furnituremakingcourses #woodwork #furnituremaking
Simple little mitred box in American walnut and rippled maple, with keys in bloodwood. It’s a thank you present for a surgeon who was great doing my hips. Thought the bloodwood was appropriate 😊.
#boxes #futnituremaking
It’s been a pleasure to meet Eddie @blithfieldwillow and a privilege to be invited to demonstrate at @tearup.fest He and his team put together an amazing basketry and weaving festival. Meeting so many fabulous makers has been so inspiring.
Looking forward to @tearup.fest 2026.
#basketmaking #chairmaking #willow #weaving #basketweaving #somersetchair
So pleased to have met Dan Neal @danielnealchairs at the @tearup.fest He’s the third generation of his family to continue making the great range of ladder back chairs that his father @lawrencejneal still makes, and grandfather Neville made before him. It’s so great that Dan is enthusiastically continuing the business.
A lovely connection for me is that his grandfather Neville, taught me how to spindle turn on the lathe when I was 18.
Their chairs and the ethos behind them is what inspired me to design and make my Somerset chairs, which are seen as a contemporary evolution of the traditional ladder back chairs.
#ladderbackchairs #somersetchair #chairs #furniture
Amazing work by so many talented people @tearup.fest Last day of demonstrating. It’s been wonderful meeting so many makers.
#basketmaking #basketmakersassociation #weaving #willow #willowweaving
Having just had a hip replacement, I’m really pleased to confirm that I will be able to take part in @tearup.fest this weekend to do some chair making demonstrations. It’s a privilege to be able to take part alongside so many amazing basket makers. Looking forward to being there.
#tearupfest #basketmaking #chairmaking #willow #festivalworkshop #willowweaving
Short Courses
Furniture Making – A Dovetailed Box
Venue: West Dean College, West Sussex
Ability Level: Beginners
Date: 23rd – 27th March 2026
Through demonstrations and practical work, you will learn how to make a dovetailed box using a hardwood. This project has been designed to take you, step-by-step, through all the various processes necessary to produce a box using dovetails for the construction. Topics covered will include the setting out, cutting and assembly of dovetails as well as other processes necessary to make the box, such as the use of cutting gauges, chisels and the basic use of a router. Suitable timber is supplied at cost.
Making Simple Furniture for Complete Beginners – A Small Bench/Stool
Venue: West Dean College, West Sussex
Ability Level: Beginners
Date: 19th – 22nd June 2026
Learn fundamental woodworking techniques and gain practical insight into making furniture as you make a small bench. With step-by-step guidance and demonstrations from Tom, you will be introduced to the use of hand planes, chisels, and other essential tools required to make the bench. Suitable timber is supplied at cost and all essential tools are provided by the college.
Furniture Making for Beginners – A Side Table
Venue: West Dean College, West Sussex
Ability Level: Beginners
Date: 4th – 9th October 2026
This course is aimed at anyone wishing to acquire the skills to work with hardwoods, as a stepping-stone to making your own furniture. With step-by-step guidance and demonstrations from Tom, you will be introduced to the use of hand planes, chisels, and other essential tools required to make the side table.You will learn how to sharpen these tools, and alongside other processes, will be shown how to set out and cut mortise and tenon joints and edge joints. Suitable timber is supplied at cost and all essential tools are provided by the college.
Weekly Classes
Tailor Made Classes
The furniture making classes that I run each week from my workshop are designed to be flexible and are tailored to meet student’s individual requirements, whether an enthusiastic beginner or a more experienced woodworker. Many of the students who come started out as complete beginners, but they are now able to design and make accomplished pieces. You can see some of the furniture made by my students, from both the workshop and the colleges I teach at, in the Gallery of Student’s Work.
The weekly classes are ongoing throughout the year and are run from my workshop at Boundary Barn, on the edge of the Blackdown hills near Ilminster in Somerset. I also run short courses, as detailed above, from other venues and colleges.
If you are interested in the weekly classes do feel free to contact me to have a chat.
Gallery of Tom’s Work
Gallery of Student’s Work
Contact Tom
Tom can be contacted directly by completing and submitting the form below. Visits to his workshop are welcome by prior appointment only. (If you appear not to receive any replies, please check your spam/junk folder)
Tom Kealy
Boundary Barn,
Hare Lane,
Buckland St Mary,
Chard,
Somerset.
TA20 3JS
Tel No. 07780 690325