Martin Grierson honoured with Lifetime Achievement Award

Photograph shows the Representative Lord Mayor Fiona Woolf with Martin Grierson

Martin Cunningham Grierson FCSD FRSA FSDC, has been recognised for his outstanding career as a designer and maker of furniture and his significant contribution to the British furniture industry with The Furniture Makers’ Company Lifetime Achievement Award.

He was presented with his award by the Representative Lord Mayor Dame Fiona Woolf DBE at the Installation Dinner for the new Master on Wednesday 13 May.

After his graduation with distinction from the Central School of Arts & Crafts in 1953, Martin worked in several architectural practices and then in the 60s as a freelance designer for several British and international companies, notably Walter Knoll, Kandya, and Collins & Hayes.

In 1975 he opened his own workshop and major commissions included public seating for the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery, and furniture for Croydon Town Hall, The Tate Gallery at St Ives, several Cambridge colleges and the Bank of England, including the Governor’s Desk.   As he has for so long been a champion of the designer craftsman sector of the industry, we should not forget these large-scale corporate and public projects.

Martin is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, the Chartered Society of Designers and the Society of Designer Craftsmen.  He joined The Furniture Makers’ Company in 1992 and has given dedicated service to committees and to the Court, also winning our Golden Jubilee Award for gallery seating at the Wallace Collection in 2002.

Besides pursuing such a long and distinguished career as a designer and maker, Martin has modestly dedicated himself to teaching and helping young furniture makers, particularly through his own workshop, and he continues to organise exhibitions of bespoke furniture.