Curriculum vitae · Updated October 2026

Oriel Vanstone

Furniture & spatial designer working between joinery workshops and interior teams.

Seeking: Senior Designer, Product & Interiors Based: Remote, GMT · studio days in-person Email: studio@vanstone.example

Profile

Designer of cabinetry, seating and fitted interiors for small manufacturers and hospitality clients. Comfortable moving from a sketch and a timber sample to a dimensioned drawing pack a workshop can cut from without a second conversation.

Trained in the workshop before the studio, which shapes how the work is specified: honest joints, repairable assemblies, finishes chosen for the room they will age in. Happiest on projects where the maker, the client and the drawing stay in the same conversation.

Selected work

Seating · Small-batch manufacture

Notch Chair, oak and linen

A stacking side chair built around a single visible housing joint, developed with a two-person workshop. Designed for flat assembly, replaceable seat pads and a frame that can be re-finished rather than discarded.

Reduced the frame to four machined parts, so the workshop could cut a full set in one setup.

Fitted interior · Hospitality

Greyfern reading room

Joinery scheme for a small hotel library: wall-fixed shelving, a banquette run and two reading tables. Drew the full pack, specified veneers and attended first fit to resolve wall tolerances on site.

Kept the whole room to two timber species and one hardware family.

Product system · Retail fit-out

Milfield modular counter

A counter and back-bar system for an independent bakery group, designed as repeatable modules so new sites can be specified from a short component list instead of a bespoke drawing each time.

New sites now order from a component sheet rather than a fresh design.

Experience

2023 — Now

Senior DesignerHalloway & Pike · Furniture studio

  • Lead designer on fitted joinery and seating commissions from brief to first fit.
  • Produce dimensioned drawing packs, cut lists and finish schedules for external workshops.
  • Run material reviews with clients, keeping specification decisions documented in one place.
  • Mentor two junior designers through detailing and workshop handover.

2020 — 2023

Furniture DesignerRookwood Interiors

  • Detailed bespoke cabinetry for residential and small hospitality interiors.
  • Introduced a shared detail library, shortening the path from concept to issued drawings.
  • Coordinated with site teams on tolerances, services and installation sequence.

2018 — 2020

Design & Making AssistantBenn Carrow Workshop

  • Built prototypes and samples in solid timber and veneered board.
  • Translated designer sketches into shop drawings and setting-out rods.
  • Maintained finish sampling for client approval.

2017 — 2018

Studio InternAldermoor Design Office

  • Supported model-making, drawing issue and material archiving for interior projects.