Out Of The Woods, February 2002
We check out a beautiful new release of bespoke hardwood furniture….and discover the creators are Sheffield based….
Andrew Mitchell likes a nice bit of design. ‘Take the original Mini,’ he says. ‘It won Monte Carlo twice. Why? Not because it was a pretty car. It won because it was a pretty and incredibly well designed car.’ In his opinion, good design is a resolution of function, aesthetic and resources. Get those right and you’ve got a brilliant product.
Five years ago, Mitchell founded Avad, a Sheffield-based company which designs and crafts original pieces of contemporary, solid wood furniture. Avad (a Hebrew name meaning ‘work, serve and worship’) produces furniture that is minimalist, modern, strikingly beautiful. They make one-off tables, wardrobes, shelving and other products that are available as ready made items, plus there is a bespoke service on the whole collection.
Each Avad piece is made of sustainably managed hardwood but that doesn’t mean it looks ‘old-fashioned; quite the contrary in fact. ‘I don’t want to make ‘old’ furniture,’ insists Mitchell. ‘We’ve already got our antiques in this country…so let’s make new stuff…’
