Journeyman Furniture

Fine contemporary furniture by Nicholas Langan
Nicholas Langan of Journeyman Furniture designs and handcrafts contemporary bespoke furniture of the highest quality to transform your living and working spaces.

Journeyman Furniture is known for its imaginative use of wood in the creation of desirable handmade, functional furniture and sustainable forestry practice is supported by using native timber wherever possible.

You can be proud not only of your unique piece of furniture but also of the fact that you know its provenance and that every effort has been made to protect the future of wood stock.

Nicholas personally works with you to ensure every piece of furniture enhances and complements your environment, bringing pleasure to all those who see and use it.

I have almost twenty years' qualified experience as a furniture maker and followed my ‘journeyman’ path working on a number of varied and prestigious projects across the UK before establishing Journeyman Furniture. I now work with personal clients and other design professionals with a small team of craftspeople, designing and creating beautiful furniture and interiors to commission. I exhibit my designs at a national level whenever time allows.

Find out more about our furniture or read our latest news


What is a journeyman?
The term journeyman is still used today, but was more widely used in the days of apprenticeship. The furniture maker’s apprentice would serve a term of between 5 and 7 years to the master craftsman. Once that apprenticeship was finished the apprentice would then become a journeyman and admitted to full membership of their craft.

The journeyman would then have an option to travel between workshops from town to town to gain further experience. Once enough capital was raised by the journeyman they would set up their own workshop and become a master with the blessing of their guild. The master’s obligation was then to take on an apprentice, and so completing and sustaining the cycle.

Handcrafted Furniture from Cornwall hand planing
Being based in Cornwall and looking out on the daily ebb and flow of the tide and shifting sand dunes, I am continually inspired to create beautiful furniture and artefacts which reflect my surroundings. I am passionate about the wood used in my designs and always try to get the most out of the grain, patterns and texture of the timber paying close attention to the overall form and functionality of the piece.

I produce clean lines and employ simple decoration allowing the wood to express itself, and most importantly your needs and personality are reflected to ensure that the finished piece enhances your environment and life.


Sustainable woods
I care about conservation of our planet and support sustainable forestry practice by using local native timber wherever possible. Some of the most interesting wood that I use is hand selected and comes from local sources. Hardwoods are generally employed such as brown oak, olive ash, rippled sycamore, wild cherry, curly walnut, spalted beech, pear, bog oak, burr elm, and yew (technically a softwood).

Other more exotic woods and highly figured veneers are used to achieve decorative patterns but I strive to ensure that it has originated from an ethical source. A myriad of techniques are used in the studio to manipulate materials to create curves and other complex shapes. In the finer points of construction, hand tools are always used to produce a fine finish to my exacting standards. Cedar of lebanon is used for drawer bottoms where required and I frequently cut dovetails and other joints by hand.

I am always looking for unusual wood and keep a stockpile to use in future projects. Most of the stock in use has provenance, I can tell you exactly where it came from.

Find out more about the woods we use.