Inside the world of a Stockport’s coveted furniture maker

For those unfamiliar with furniture-making, it might be easy to assume that practicality and comfort are at the heart of every design. While both are important, creative designer Tim Denton believes there’s much more to what inspires a piece of furniture, from its surroundings and architecture to the people and places that shape its design, and when looking at his work, you can see this inspiration running through it. 

As well as designing furniture himself, Tim is passionate about supporting other small furniture businesses, running exhibitions that showcase the talent and creativity of the sector across Greater Manchester. He is also set to host a series of workshops at his Stockport shop, giving people the chance to get involved and discover the creativity behind the art of furniture-making. 

We caught up with Tim about his different projects and collaborations in Stopford. 

Tell us a little about yourself?  

“So, I’m Tim Denton, and we’ve been running Tim Denton Furniture for about 10 years. We design and make furniture and exhibitions. Traditionally, we’ve done a lot of public engagement projects where we’ve worked with people to design pieces.

I studied furniture and graduated in 2001. I’ve done furniture ever since, in some form or another. I started doing small products with a partner, then I went to teach for a couple of years. I’ve always done freelance design and exhibitions; and then I started this business 10 years ago.”

What kinds of products do you create? 

“So, we straddle quite a lot of different things. We tend to work a lot with coffee roasters, but we also do a lot of commercial work. We’ll do exhibitions, for example, including flat-pack exhibitions that small companies can take to exhibitions themselves to show off their businesses. 

“We do stuff for retail as well, and alongside that, we’ve also worked on public engagement projects. We worked with Wrexham Council to make lots of new furniture for a big new community hub they had. We designed and built it all with members of the community, so that’s another side of our business, and I really enjoy that side of it… working and co-designing with different people.” 

And what do you most want to be known for?

“That’s a good question. I actually want to do a bit of everything, and I quite like not being pigeonholed. I like working across a really broad range of areas. I suppose some people have called me an artist in the past as well. I kind of straddle that line between artist and design.