Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire
07743824866
Website: www.paulferguson.co.uk
eMail: pf@paulferguson.co.uk
Paul Ferguson established The Paul Ferguson Workshop in 1978 after completing five years of design studies and a further five years of wood‑carving training at The Paul Levi Studio, Paddington, London, where he trained under master carver Edward Desave.
The workshop was originally based in central London, undertaking a wide range of carving and gilding work while employing and training professional carvers and gilders. During this period, he also taught at the London College of Furniture and wrote and initiated a City & Guilds carving course at Lambeth College. In 2008, the workshop relocated to Leighton Buzzard.
In 2012, the practice was incorporated as Fine Wood Carving & Gilding Ltd. Following semi‑retirement in 2022, the company was voluntarily dissolved and Paul now works independently from a private studio.
His work has included commissions for Royal Palaces, stately homes, public museums, churches, government buildings, architects, interior designers, and private clients.
Paul was accredited as a conservator with the Institute of Conservation in 2007 and is listed on the Conservation Register. In 2018, he was awarded the MBE for services to carving, gilding, and conservation.
Current work focuses on restoration and conservation, including surveying and condition reporting, analysis, treatment proposals, method statements with full photographic documentation. Commissions are undertaken both in the studio and on site.
The Windsor Castle Fire Restoration included what are known as the Carlton House Trophies, which were installed at Windsor Castle following the demolition of Carlton House in 1828. These are a set of carved lime wood and gilded carvings, applied to door panels in the Drawing Rooms of the State Apartments comprising a total of 38 panels, of which these are six of them. The outer photographs display the panels at full size with the fragments that were salvaged from the fire overlaid in their respective positions, while the central photograph shows the completed restoration prior to installation at Windsor. During the restoration, Princess Margaret visited the workshop. At that time, work was underway on carving the upper left panel, which had only one small leaf remaining, indicated by the marked circle. Princess Margaret insisted that I sign the panel, despite instructions prohibiting signatures on any works. A letter outlining her wishes was sent to the controlling committees, and as a result, I was instructed to sign the panel. Possibly the only signature to be officially made in the whole restoration. This marks the pinnacle of my career….. thus far.
Two commissions for Alexander McQueen, a mannequin and a pair of prosthetic legs made especially for paralympic athlete Aimee Mullins who wore them to open his fashion show in 1999. Both were exhibited in his retrospective ‘Savage Beauty’ at the Metropolitan Museum of Art NY, 2011 and the V&A London, 2015. They also featured in the Grinling Gibbons 300 celebration at Bonhams, London, and Compton Verney, Warwickshire, 2021.
