TOM Walker

Industrial Designer

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Background

+ Artistic Philosophy

Thomas Walker is an English designer with Japanese roots, having grown up in Newcastle and Studying in London.

He obtained a BA in Product Design at Central Saint Martins and has since worked in the design, production and manufacturing of sculpture, product and furniture.

His work experience spans widely across the creative industries and has worked with studios such as Ilse Crawford, Commune Design, Soho House, Kelly Hoppen, Martin Brudnizki, Studio Ashby, Charles & Co and with end clients such as The Dorchester Hotel, The Ritz and The Groucho Club among many other high profile people and places.

With a strong passion for material, scale, product process and design intelligence he strives for simplicity and honesty within his designs which contributes to his overall love of industrial design and the manufacturing process of products.

Monuments

As part of designing for the bespoke process I often get to work with many clients that have very specific requests and exquisite buildings that demand more care and attention to detail. I have often found with these types of projects our furniture serves as monuments to the space and should work hand in hand with the area they occupy.

Working around pre existing structures that have included heating and ventilation systems, structural building supports and unusual ways of passage can often sway the design one way or another but I believe with enough creativity a harmony can be achieved.

For example the banquettes to the right hide a ventilation system that expels air through a cavity in the back and via channels beneath the feet into the room. Many of the below images also include hidden features that I have designed in to allow that same harmony to exist.

05. Good design is unobtrusive.

Various Seating

Soho House Majorsgatan, Sweden

Banquette Seating London Artfarm

Mount St Restaurant

As featured in Vogue

Square Arm Sofa

Field Day Studio

Private Residence

Shaped Back Sofa Private Client

Home Residence

Snug Banquette

Martin Brudnizki Design

The Dorchester Hotel

As featured in Forbes

Armchairs

MBDS Studio

Italian Room & Bar

As featured in Dezeen

Bar Stools

Martin Brudnizki

Vesper Bar at The Dorchester

As featured in Surface Magazine

Point of view

Clients often come with ideas of their own and I believe it to be my duty as a designer to shepherd them not only into the correct decisions but to also understand their vision and aesthetic. If we can use our skill and knowledge to decipher what they love about certain references, time periods and pieces we can ultimately deliver to our clients small ‘!’ moments when a design comes to life.

03. Good design is aesthetic.

End of Bed Bench

Candy & Candy

Private Residence

Timber & Brass Seat

10 Design LTD

Private Residence

Curved Armchair

Benjamin West

30 Grovsener Square

Bed With Push to Open Drawers

Benji Lewis Design

Private Residence

Klismos Carver

Mukesh Ambani

Stoke Park

Glass Topped Timber Table

Finlayson Architects

Private Residence

Barstools With Brass Rings

Artfarm

The Groucho Club

Fluted & Flaired Sofa

Soho Design

Soho House Stockholm

Curved Sofas with T Clip Connection

Ilse Crawford

Private Residence

Free Standing Platform Seat

Nina Litchfield Studios

Private Residence

Ram’s Horn Armchair

Soho House

Various Houses

French Style Barrel Back Armchairs

Michael Aiduss

Private Residence

Traditional Isle Sofas

Michael Aiduss

Private Residence

Thinking in Volumes

The chair to the right is an ongoing project with Soho House whom I have worked with many times before. The brief was to create a style of chair for mass manufacture that can sit within many different locales and blend in with both their bentwood furniture and mid-century settings.

Seeing that our factory does not specialise in bentwood manufacture it has been my task to bridge the gap and create something that is manufacturable on an industrial scale whilst capturing the essence of their thought.

At one stage in the process, all the parts are flat and square pieces that then have a trimmer applied to them to birth the aesthetic they desire. Notice how the back of the thin profile seat dips down on the back leg to allow for a greater connection and is plugged in to stop any twisting. Many hidden details of manufacture lay within the seat.

08. Good design is thorough down to the last detail

Soho House

“Bentwood” Chairs

360° View

Soho Chair

Connection Plans

Traditional Jointing & Structural Additions

The Spirit of a Factory

The aim of the project was to propose a table design that can hold various inlay and timber details along with exotic and interesting timber usage.

The design features self-levelling, self-centring, and self-jigging and includes “free” features such as glue channels and timber locks from a flatbed CNC. I have also designed in features that insulate the frame shop from mistakes and protect the final finish where skill levels may not be as high as required.

I believe that understanding the limitations, opportunities, machinery and skill levels should shape the design in a way that ultimately makes a creation with the spirit of the factory that when repeated over time produces patterns which contrtibute to a unique style.

The whole process of manufacturing was designed by myself and

was a first for the factory to explore such ideas.

01. Good design is innovative

George Smith

Side Table

Exploded View

Joints & Connections

Table Top Plans

Flat Bed CNC Grooves

Scales of Opportunity

The design to the right is a clipping system for upholstered furniture that was a self-appointed project which ran in parallel with my normal day-to-day work. I discovered there was a need for a clip system that allowed for the tolerances of various upholstered fabrics from mohair to linen as the bespoke process allowed for any fabrics but there was no way to control offsets for the gaps between sections.

The clip works by using an internal chamfer to squeeze the fabrics together, and since steel is stronger than the fabrics, it pulls them in and compresses the material between the section to create a tight fit.

I designed, prototyped (3d printed), researched, tested and had 1000+ manufactured for usage which we now use as a working solution. The design features many other clever aspects such as a self-return and a cover under which the fabric is finished beneath.

I have also since applied to patent this design as an individual.

02. Good design makes a product useful

George Smith

Custom T Clip

3/4 view

Stainless Steel CNC Milling

Front & Back Views