Jeremy Broun

Jeremy Broun is a British furniture designer maker, writer, film maker and musician. Descended from Scottish gentry, one of his ancestors was the piano maker to King George 3 and another rowed the boat to Napoleon's surrender. His mother died in his childbirth and father died when he was seventeen. He is the nephew of the late St Andrews and St Ives painter Wilhelmina Barns-Graham. He was educated at Abbotsholme school and for a short while taught at Millfield.

Broun's furniture is innovative in the use of technique and form. His Caterpillar Rocking Chair in 1984 'is visually stunning, a good combination of colour, structure and practicality... and has the advantage of being a truly original idea : just as Saarinen and his pedestal chairs converted four chairlegs into one' (An Encyclopedia of Chairs - The Apple Press).

He won a Winston Churchill Travel Scholarship to Sweden, Finland and Italy in 1979 and in the same year was elected a Fellow of The Society of Designer Craftsmen, the original Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society founded by William Morris. Since 1980 he has been a member of the Crafts Council Index of Selected Makers.

He has exhibited extensively including The Royal Society of Arts and the Ars Nova Museum in Finland.

His work was included in the 'First Sale of Contemporary British Crafts' at Sotheby's in 1980 and in 2002 at the Centenary exhibition celebrating the Hill House designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh.In 1989 he gained The Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers Ambrose Heal Award for his craft documentary films. He has written numerous articles on woodworking and design including "Furniture Today" and a History of (Furniture) Designer Makers in 2005. In 2006 Broun was voted 'Professional Woodworker of the year 2005' by The Woodworker magazine and in 2006 completed a two year self-funded DVD project called "Furniture Today" which is a unique multi media presentation on British contemporary bespoke furniture set against a backcloth dating back to The Magna Carta. It includes over 800 references to furniture, 400 plus images and 14 video clips that include interviews with top designer makers. In 2007 Broun set up his own publishing company and launched The Revised Bespoke edition of his first book 'The Incredible Router'. In 2008 he was invited to become a freelance inspector for The British Accreditation Council for independent further and higher education. As a musician Jeremy plays the electro-acoustic guitars that he makes and can occasionally be heard busking on the streets of his home town Bath and has performed at the Bath Fringe Festival. Several short films by Jeremy Broun on furniture design/making are published on YouTube. In 2009 he was elected a Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts.