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Meet Rupert
Meet Rupert Bevan, a furniture designer renowned for his craftmanship, quality designs, and bespoke interiors. We were kindly invited to Rupert’s eponymous workshop in the Shropshire countryside, where he told us about his long-term friendship with our founder, Victoria, their recent collaboration on ‘the Victoria’ bedside table, and the valuable lessons he’s learnt throughout his career - all whilst styling our AW25 menswear collection.
We hear that you and our founder, Victoria, go way back! What are your memories of Victoria setting up Brora?
I can recall being unable to get through the door to her house due to the huge cardboard boxes filled with cashmere jumpers! I even modelled for Brora in the early days. I remember being on an amazing beach at Holkham in Norfolk with fair isle clad children on our shoulders, it was great fun!
Can you tell us about the process of developing the Victoria bedside tables?
They are so Victoria. She described what she wanted, and I made it. 80% of what I do is bespoke. My job is not to dictate design or be judgemental about design. It's just to translate someone's idea. What you like is up to you, and you tell me, and I'm a conduit. I know I can do things in all these different materials. My job is to give you what you want. I just translated Victoria’s ideas. She decided how she wanted it to look, how masculine, how feminine, tall, short, whatever, and then my job is to translate those words into a language which a furniture maker speaks. I’m fluent in that language.
What are you looking for when you’re shopping for clothes?
I'm looking for workwear, but I’m not very formal. I want to be comfortable, something practical; I’m always fiddling with my trousers or rolling up my sleeves or doing something which doesn't make me look structured. I like pimping clothes, if there’s a hole, I’ll put a badge on it or something. I look at women’s clothes too, you should be able to wear what you want.
What’s the best thing about being the founder of a business?
I love working with people and I’m proud of the people that work for me, but there’s an added element of pressure; I’m responsible for their livelihoods and their families.
The materials that you work with, are they locally sourced? Do you source all over the world?
I try wherever I can to source local, I try and find timber that's local, because then I know its journey, and I know it’s going to be good quality. We love using traditional materials in a modern way. Taking it out of context and taking it into something else.
Are all your pieces individual?
Sometimes you're making more generic pieces of furniture, sometimes I can't afford any variation, and sometimes I absolutely can. I like imperfection. I think it's a really beautiful thing. I have this view that the thing you like about somebody is not that they’re beautiful and perfect, it’s the thing that’s odd about them. The thing that people hate about themselves is the thing that everyone else likes about them. It's funny, isn't it? You need to stick out and stand out. I tried to imitate lots of other styles, but I just needed to do my own. Don’t let other people interfere.
If you had to start your business all over again from scratch, is there anything you would do differently?
You can always do things differently. But I always think the point of life is to make loads of mistakes, and the odd good thing happens. Your life is a littering of mistakes, or just an endless continuation of failures, with a few successes sprinkled in. I worry for the younger generation about the pressure on them to get it right the first time. It's nuts. I was an apprentice, I thought I was going to be an architect, I didn't do this until I was well into my thirties. But my journey before that enabled me to do this.
What’s the best advice you would pass on?
Find your space. Be open and willing to take risks and fail. When you have those skills, when you're brave enough to have those skills, then your journey is good and interesting.
