Born in 1961, Marcus was a professional cellist until his late twenties, having studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. An increasing sense of dissatisfaction led to a change of direction into furniture designing and making – the mysterious and on going non-appearance of the offer in the post from the Berlin Phil merely serving to confirm the wisdom of this choice.

Such a change is not so radical as it may seem at first sight, since both activities are forms of creative self expression and are, quite literally, hands on. Indeed, the combination of practicality and creativity common to both was instrumental in my choice of that particular new direction – this turned out to be about the best decision I ever made. Since re-training at the London College of Furniture in the early nineties Marcus has worked continuously in the field  of bespoke furniture, including a 12 year period in the workshop of Martin Grierson.

Based in Upper Halliford, Marcus is fortunate enough to work from a home based workshop, although in truth he does not regard what he does as work, since he would do this for nothing if he could afford to. Marcus never tells his clients this. Other interests away from woodworking include fishing and walking into rooms in order to wonder why he went there. He also used to go ice climbing in Scotland until he decided to live for a bit longer.