What Students Say

Three years ago I attended a furniture making course where I was fortunate enough to have Peter as a teacher.

Peter is a very inspirational man and was a refreshing mentor for many reasons! Peter has many attributes to be proud of. The one I found most reassuring was that he had worked himself as a cabinet maker, amongst others in the trade. He has a great rounded understanding of traditional and modern methods of construction balancing both in his tuition. He also has a great understanding of all aspects in cabinet making from hand skills through to veneering, machining and polishing.

Not only does he have these skills he finds a pleasant and enjoyable manner in which to teach them, recognizing and focusing on peoples’ weak areas and nourishing their strong points.

I feel that anyone would be lucky to have Peter as a mentor and can be optimistic about future employment prospects after the course. You can be confident that he will get the best out of you and will allow you to make the best of your opportunity.

Peter is an approachable, charismatic and patient teacher, with extensive knowledge and teaching skills. Peter has played a big part in getting me where I am today. I now successfully run my own cabinet making business producing furniture of the finest quality!

Alex King

I had the honour of being taught by Peter Sefton, throughout which time, I was impressed by his professional approach and knowledge. Peter continually inspired and challenged me to develop as a fine furniture maker, to produce work to the highest standard. After my training I became a self employed musical instrument maker; my instruments are played by recording artists and displayed in Museums around the world.

Michael J King

Peter Sefton laid the foundations for my successful career in furniture making.

Peter has a rare combination of skills: he is a successful professional furniture maker which has given him a thorough knowledge of all aspects involved in creating fine furniture, and he is an excellent communicator refined over several years of teaching and lecturing.

I enjoyed his teaching: it involved lectures on basic theory along with practical demonstrations of woodworking skills using traditional hand tools and the safe, efficient use of modern machinery. The majority of students’ time was devoted to obtaining hands on experience under Peter’s careful supervision. Peter outlined the fundamentals of good design, but the emphasis was to inspire the students to design their own work and establish their own unique style. Peter was always encouraging, approachable and generous with his time when students sought his advice.

I had a thoroughly enjoyable time with Peter during which my DIY skills were developed and refined to those of an award winning professional cabinet maker. Many of Peter’s other students have also become successful woodworkers. I thoroughly recommend his teaching methods – they worked for me.

Brian Jordan

Peter’s woodworking skills proved to be substantial and I think his encouragement of design skills helped us develop not only as individuals but also as a group. We all made a coffee table early in the course, but we were all making different coffee tables, which meant there were so many more skills to learn and problems to over come in the class.

I would not hesitate to recommend Peter Sefton’s Cabinet making courses.

George Aslett

As a previous student of Peter Sefton, I found him a highly skilled craftsman and lecturer, who had a great wealth of knowledge on cabinet making and was able to inspire and give me the confidence to design and make my own projects. Starting with a rough sketch, I developed the design into a scaled drawing and then to the finished piece; all aspects of the project were completed under Peter’s supervision. I found his attention to detail was exceptional, and he was able to push my creative skills to develop better and better projects.

I now work as a cabinet maker for a company who export their work all across the world and have the confidence to do this down to having a good teacher in Peter Sefton.

Mark Everall

Peter was exceptionally professional in the way he worked. He was very patient and supportive. He made sure that each student had an understanding of what he was teaching. His techniques and evolved ideas about design and construction are very eye opening.

Peter is one of three people who have remarkably inspired me in my career/education so far. Peter made me feel that it was possible to start up my own business. He helped me find a job with a great cabinet maker, which improved my working pace. Before I had left college I had started making pieces to commission and now continue to do so using much of the knowledge and many of the skills he has passed on.

Matthew Tradgett

Having spent my 20’s as a tool engineer, I decided to follow my long held dream of becoming a furniture maker and at the age of 30, I re-trained under Peter Sefton.

His approach to design was inspirational and he bought out the best in me by encouraging my own design ideas, whilst backing them up with solid construction techniques.

I found Peter’s mixture of hand skills, veneering techniques and theory were exceptional and I was surprised to find that the accuracy of his machine skills were as exacting as those required for engineering.

I enjoyed every moment of my course and all this has led to me having a very fulfilling career within the profession, and I am currently working for a bespoke maker of commissioned kitchens and furniture.

Nathan Compton