Last week we were very proud to host an international competition in cabinetmaking for WorldSkills UK. We welcomed participants from Chinese Taipei, France, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Our Wood School workshops are equipped with industry-standard machinery making them the perfect choice for a pressure test of this kind. The WorldSkills Competition is the world’s…
We are proud to announce the launch of a unique collection of furniture, the most recent collaboration with iconic British furniture manufacturer ercol. Through our long standing partnership we aim to inspire and educate the next generation of designers, makers, consumers and woodland owners in the value of home-grown timber. Designed in-house and crafted in…
This International Women’s Day, we were thrilled to see our Woodworking and Gender project take center stage. The project was highlighted by our major funder, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, as a leading example of how to reshape the heritage skills sector. The Fund celebrated the women and marginalised communities who are reshaping spaces in…
We’re now accepting applications for the 2026 Woodworking & Gender 6-Week Workshop Experience Course, running 11 May – 18 June 2026 at Sylva Wood School, Oxfordshire.
The Furniture Makers’ Company and the Sylva Foundation are launching the Woodworking Teachers Network – a new national initiative designed to connect, support, and empower educators working in woodworking and furniture making education. The network emerges as a direct response to the findings of a comprehensive survey conducted in spring 2025, which gathered the views…
Congratulations to our Wood School Senior Tutor Phil Gullam on receiving the Master Certificate from The Furniture Makers Company!
We are delighted to welcome Cathrin (Cat) Poppensieker to the Sylva team. Cat will lead our new Woodworking and Gender Project, funded by The National Heritage Lottery Fund and other generous supporters. The project aims to address the significant gender imbalance in the heritage woodworking sector. The project envisions a transformed woodworking industry, driven by…
The Sylva Wood Centre is taking part in Oxfordshire Artweeks again this year and opening the Wood School and workshops to the public, on 18/19 May.
At the January Furniture Show, Joe Bray, Head of Sylva Wood School, gave a talk about ‘Working with home-grown timber’.
We invite you to join us exploring what’s on offer at the Sylva Wood School in our next Open Day.