Welcome to our three new Court Assistants

We are delighted to announce that three new Court Assistants were elected onto The Furniture Makers’ Company’s governing body, the Court, earlier this month.

Each year one or more new assistants are elected to the Court for periods of six years, during which time they can then be elected as the Third Assistant and begin their journey to becoming Master.

Following the election from five candidates, John Barnard, Alistair Gough and Stephanie Marsh were officially elected onto the Court on Thursday 7 March.

John Barnard

John is a bespoke furniture maker who started his own furniture business in Norwich in 1971. He has worked on projects for clients and given lectures all over the world. He’s the furniture liaison at Norwich City College and president of the Norfolk Furniture Makers Association.

Alistair Gough

Alistair spent the first 30 years of his career in the paper merchanting industry with the Robert Horne Group. Having started as a technical trainee, he progressed through the business in a variety of roles including sales, marketing, operations and general management, ultimately becoming the group managing director. Alistair took an opportunity to invest in Ocee Design in 2010 and as group CEO has built an inherited £4 million UK based business in to Ocee International, a £45 million company with a global presence through both organic growth and acquisitions.

Stephanie Marsh

Stephanie worked in the City of London from 1970 until 1987 during which time she was one of the first female dealers on the floor of the London Stock Exchange. She subsequently entered the world of education as part of the support team at Kingston University. In 2008 she became a custodian of The Frederick Parker Collection which was put together to be used as an educational tool. The collection has now merged with The Furniture Makers’ Company.

A big welcome to our new Court assistants.