PEOPLE
leoni bullcock the contemporary woodcrafter Text by Katie Woodward Photos by Jess Littlewood
Crafting refined and elegant pieces, Leoni Bullcock is a modern artisan. Aged 28, the designer has established her own homeware brand, selling in numerous London boutiques. Specializing in clean lines and unique forms, she is turning her attention to larger pieces.
Hendzel and Hunt, and studied on a furniture-making course in Peckham. Establishing her business two years ago, she now sells in London boutiques including Threads, Odell’s and Cornercopia Homestore. “The stores I sell in focus on the handmade and natural aspects, everything is pure and real,” she says.
Hidden away under the arches of Peckham Rye station, her dusty workshop is filled with classical music- an audio representation of her pleasing designs. “I design for simplicity and beauty,” she explains. ”It is about the legacy of where the wood came from.” The results of her craft include home accessories and small pieces of furniture.
Selling 50% of her products in clothing stores, she insists that fashion doesn’t have an influence on her designs. “I don’t design with fashion in mind, only the object and the material and how I can do the best work with that”. She does however, confess that fashion may have an influence on her sales. “I do think people buy my pieces for the fashion element as wood is quite fashionable.”
Surrounded by piles of wood and mountains of sawdust shavings, her chaotic workplace is visually miles apart from the refined objects she creates. “Looking at this workshop, you struggle to relate to the minimal and clean products I make!” she says. Benches of tools and ongoing projects line the room representing the labour she puts into her end product. “I love working with permanent materials which are quite challenging to work with.”
Describing her work as “simple, functional, useable, pleasing and tactile” she maintains a set style for her designs, retaining a fixed aesthetic of apparent grain and smooth lines. “I love coming across beautiful timber, and being excited about what I can make from it,” she explains. Putting great effort into designing, crafting and accomplishing her works, Leoni pinpoints that it is more than the visual aesthetic of her creations she enjoys of her craft. “Each piece has a story behind it,” she says. “All of the timber that I use I know where it is from, I know where it grew, sometimes I know who planted it and whether that has an importance or relevance.”
Using reclaimed and scrap timber, she sticks to traditional designs, “I don’t like to add any nonsense to it. I have got a rule: circles and lines. That’s it. Just playing with very amazing shapes.” Her Danish and Scandinavian influenced pieces exhibit minimal and sophisticated details, featuring candleholders, crockery and jewellery pots.
While she sells pieces to be used on a day-to-day basis such as crockery, plates and chopping boards, she accepts that her products are sometimes purchased for their appealing element, rather than for function. “I hope that my products will be used, but I fully accept that they won’t always be.” she explains. “It is enough for me knowing that they can be used.”
Growing up in Bournemouth, much of her inspiration comes from her childhood, with her mother being an artist and father a carpenter. “Our house was always full of weird and wonderful things!” she laughs. “The first thing I ever made was for my mum, it was a wooden spoon.” Leoni moved to Peckham three years ago, after graduating from Bournemouth University with first class honors in fine art and interior architecture. Winning Best Model in Show at Free Range, a graduate design event in London, she demonstrated her expertise. As a self-taught crafts-maker she broadened her skills by interning with local furniture makers
Currently, Leoni is working on her Autumn/Winter collection. Focusing on prominent pieces and various projects, she will continue to master her craft. “I love seeing the finished product and feeling proud of what I have made.”
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