Piper Chatfield

About the Business

Colin Piper

His passion for history and the cabinet-making skills learnt as a boy in his Grandfather’s workshop were supplemented with engineering skills, first acquired during his service with the Royal Engineers.

These skills were distilled when he studied Furniture Restoration at West Dean College and later he taught Furniture History and Restoration at Rycotewood College and Bucks College (now Chilterns University) and in Ireland.

After some years working in the antique trade, restoring and dealing in furniture, he developed a growing interest in conservation, wishing to stabilise and preserve beautiful pieces made by craftsmen of the past, bringing out their best by showing their history.

This passion for conservation led him to Connemara for four years, setting up Ireland’s only government-funded centre dedicated to furniture conservation. It quickly became self-funding and undertook a series of major projects for the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin and Castlebar.

Back in the UK Colin worked on fine furniture in many National Trust properties. This included spending a year working in front of the public on The Pope’s Cabinet, one of the Trust’s foremost pieces – a fine Renaissance cabinet (made for Pope Sixtus the Fifth in the late 16th century) and resting on a wonderful English stand made by John Boson in the early 1740s. (A visit to see it in Stourhead, Wiltshire pays rich rewards!).

Janet Piper

Janet married Colin in 2009. Her working life's passion was international trade and she has spent four decades passing on her enthusiasm for export paperwork, payments and customs procedures to thousands of trainees through her training company, Janet Phillips Training.

She was happy to support Colin in their new venture when they decided to open their 'lifestyle' shop at the beginning of 2014, bringing her old enthusiasm to her new role, as co-Director of Piper Chatfield (where her administrative skills are much appreciated by Colin!). Janet strongly believes that well-designed, beautifully-crafted and finely-finished modern pieces can mix harmoniously with good antiques. Her eye for lovely contemporary furniture and accessories is clear to see in the shop.

Why Piper Chatfield?

We work closely with Jamie Chatfield, who did his apprenticeship under Colin's careful eye and whose name fits so comfortably with the Pipers. Jamie runs Chatfield Furniture Conservation. His company is committed to using the latest techniques in conservation and all craftsmen he employs are affiliated to recognised conservation bodies and actively follow a programme of continuing professional development.

We are proud to recommend Jamie to any of our customers who are looking for expert conservation or restoration of their precious antiques.

Gallery

Our high quality, unusual, stock of antiques have been conserved with integrity and reflect Colin’s passion and knowledge of furniture and its social history (he is one of the country’s finest conservators, having worked on priceless pieces for The National Trust, top museums and the Oxford colleges). Each piece comes with the story of its history and construction and represents the best craftsmanship and design, sitting easily within a contemporary setting.