I believe this 19th-century church pew comes from the West Midlands, where I have my family home. It’s one of a pair (purchased on Vinterior) that I keep in my London warehouse apartment, where I both live and work part-time. It’s a way of life I think I inherited from my father, a stained-glass artist and restorer – as a child, seeing his workshop bolted onto our family home ingrained in me this way of working.
A reverence for the maker’s hand is present within the pews. It speaks to a golden era when craft and expression were equal. You see the detailing, but also choices that amplify something more than just the everyday. It’s about meaning, not margins. I find it deeply inspiring. The care that’s gone into each is an act of devotion in its way. The proportions are honest, vernacular.
Being descended from the Windrush generation, I’m always searching for my connection to Britain. When I go back to the Caribbean, there is such pride in my grandparents’ generation who came here to build careers. The relationship to spirituality, Christianity, contemporary culture, my Caribbean heritage and my West African blood is this composition I’m trying to make sense of.
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There’s a stewardship that comes from procuring objects that have had a life before. The dialogue between you and the object can teach you something. You’re putting your meaning into it and taking something from it. As we enter this new phase of British identity, there’s so much to develop, establish and restore. samuel-ross.com
