Member Spotlight: Alex Stewart

Every month we’re going to shine a light on one of our members. This month it’s Alex Stewart, Design Engineer at design consultancy Astheimer.

Livery status: Freeman

How did you first get involved with The Furniture Makers’ Company?

I joined the Student Industrial Tour in Manchester in 2012. Having had such a good time and made so many like-minded friends, we set up the Young Furniture Makers’ Facebook group to keep in touch. This led to me being appointed to the Young Furniture Makers committee, which I have been a member of ever since.

What did you study and where?

I studied Product & Furniture Design at De Montfort University, with a year abroad at ÉSAD Orléans in France. I was convinced to go to DMU when I saw their workshops – they must have the best in the country.

What first inspired you to want to pursue a career in the furnishings sector?

I don’t think I picked design, I think design picked me. I have a very diverse set of interests, all focused around different forms of problem solving. From childhood fascinations with Lego and Kinex, to my teenage interests in programming and fashion photography. I’m now intrigued by automotive and advanced engineering. A career in design is the only way I can indulge in everything I love all at once. My particular focus on furniture, however, has been inherited throughout my childhood by being exposed to my late fathers work as an upholsterer.

I used to help out with stripping furniture and doing pick ups and deliveries to earn pocket money. The most memorable times were of course doing the classic apprentice job of stuffing feathers into cushions, a job that my dad understandably tried to delegate at every opportunity. I’ve never been covered in so many feathers in my life. In my job now, some days I design, some days I make, some days I program CAD CAM, some days I do photoshoots, and in-between I admit I still play with Lego. Only a career in design could offer that level of daily diversity.

Who is your design hero?

I used to love the work of Dieter Rams, Jonny Ives, and car designers like Guigaro. However, looking back, my real design hero and the person who inspired and taught me the most was certainly my dad. Running his own small business all his life as an upholsterer, and supporting our family on a relatively low income, meant that he had to have a ‘can do’ attitude about anything and everything. Whatever the task, whatever the job, if it had to be done, he’d do it. We didn’t have money for contractors, so if he didn’t know how to do something he’d learn and do it himself. He taught me the value of having many ‘strings to your bow’, and I can now say with certainty, both to my friends and to clients I work with, that no matter what the task is, I can do it.

What do you see as the benefits of being involved in The Furniture Makers’ Company?

The Company gave me the ideal springboard into the industry. I can trace where I am now directly back to my first involvement with the Company in 2012. Being involved at a young age got me the exposure to influential people that I needed to launch my career. From the tour, to the committee, to the internship, to my job and now to becoming a Freeman, being integrated from a young age has put me on a clearly visible trajectory to have a significant voice in the industry as I progress through my career.

What is your favourite thing about the furnishings sector?

The people. I’ve met some great people during my short time so far in the furnishings sector, all of whom pose an unmistakable drive and charisma – a real passion for the industry. For that reason alone, I know I will be a part of the furnishing industry for a very long time.