Mark Asplin Whiteley

A Message from Lord Pickles and Lord Blunkett, followed by Mark Asplin Whiteley's best practice article

The ability to listen and learn from one another has always been vital in parliament, in business and in most aspects of daily life. But at this particular moment in time, as national and global events continue to reiterate, it is uncommonly crucial that we forge new channels of communication and reinforce existing ones. The following article from Mark Asplin Whiteley is an attempt to do just that. We would welcome your thoughts on this or any other Parliamentary Review article.

Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett, MP

Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles, MP

www.markwhiteley.com

1MARK ASPLIN WHITELEY |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE

Mark Asplin Whiteley, CEO

Art Deco bedroom,

Monaco

Based in Whitby, North Yorkshire, Mark Asplin Whiteley

Ltd is a bespoke luxury furniture maker who has supplied

unsurpassed quality into the London and global bespoke

interior design market for over 30 years. Statement pieces,

furniture, kitchens, architectural joinery into listed buildings, yacht

furniture, architectural boxes and luxury wooden accessories: these

are just some of the bespoke items that they regularly produce.

Mark Whiteley, cabinet maker, master craftsman and CEO, writes

in the following piece about what is required in a business to

consistently achieve the quality that is demanded at the very top

of the market. Quality, he says, is key to long-term success.

Curriculum

I was privileged to be at school in the 1970s when woodwork and metalwork was

taught. Focus was on the tool and material dynamic – from doing this practical

work, intuitions were refined. By developing a ‘feel’ for the material, you could

quite literally sense when it called for cutting in the other direction. This early

knowledge was crucial to my choosing a career in fine craft. Rycotewood, near

Oxford, was the college of choice, to which the UK owes much of its success in

luxury furniture manufacturing over the last 40 years.

It is crucial for this country to realise that, by not valuing practical experience in

secondary schools and engaging in vocational training at centres of excellence, our

thriving creative industries could lose their pre-eminence in the world.

FACTS ABOUT

MARK ASPLIN WHITELEY

»CEO: Mark Asplin Whiteley

»Managing director:

HeathChadwick

»Established in 1988

»Based in Whitby, North

Yorkshire

»Services: Bespoke Luxury

Cabinet Makers

»28 employees

»International Supply, fitted

and free standing.

»www.markwhiteley.com

Mark Asplin Whiteley

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

2| MARK ASPLIN WHITELEY

Craft

Craft requires a state of mind that

is fully attentive; it requires, so to

speak, being ‘in the flow’. If you have

ever watched a craftsperson, there is

a certain peace about them: a total

psychological unity with their work.

Being reactive and responsive to the

material, while also having thought

through the construction, based on

previous experience, is what craft is

all about. It requires continuous and

considered sensing of the form and of

the design.

Culture

For a craftsperson to thrive, the culture

in the workshop must support the

maker to achieve his or her potential.

When one has twenty to thirty makers,

each with different levels of experience

and ability doing bespoke unique

pieces, the style of management

must fit this mix. The culture of

the workshop is about creating an

environment that celebrates quality

through creativity.

Climate

My management style is collaborative

and intuitive. I work from the premise

that it is impossible to micro-manage

everything with bespoke work. It is not

enough to trust them; I also have to

demonstrate that trust clearly to my

makers. Ex-joiners or makers straight

from college need basic experience.

To that end, I assign them to a team

leader who assesses them by gradually

giving them ever more complicated

tasks until they reach their limit of

comfort and competence.

Competence

Trusting the team leaders and

junior makers to make a myriad of

choices, with periodic checking by

management, instills a strong sense of

ownership. Competence throughout

the workshop rises as each maker

observes others’ work, others’

processes and the other makers striving

for quality. It is a self-improving and

self-perpetuating system that requires

little management intervention.

Confidence

Confidence comes to the makers by:

allowing them to progress; trusting

them with arm’s length control;

adjusting their process through initial

discussion prior to making; and by

offering them the freedom to find their

own pace. Confidence comes as each

piece of work passes Quality Check.

Quality checking is the feedback

moment, before and after lacquering,

that elevates quality and allows the

opportunity for refinement and

improvement.

Calibre

The workshop is now only populated

by makers who are all working to the

same MAW ‘house’ standard. This is

why we have regular clients who can

then offer this assuredness of quality

to their own clients. Some businesses

claim to possess utmost quality, but

their standards of excellence may not

live up to this standard. At Mark Asplin

Whiteley’s, we only work at the luxury

end of the market which naturally

requires a constant adherence to very

high standards of quality.

Contemporary bar,

Scotland.

The culture of

the workshop

is about

creating an

environment

that celebrates

quality

through

creativity

“

3MARK ASPLIN WHITELEY |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE

Creativity

With a workshop full of cabinet makers

who all read their own drawings,

do their cutting lists, machine their

components and do the veneering,

dovetail cutting, drawer making and

inlay work, there is inevitably friendly

competition. Craftsman’s pride is

an inherent characteristic in cabinet

makers, as well as having a creative

freedom to explore different processes

to achieve high quality. As long as

the quality is there, the only other

measure is efficiency. Those makers

who demonstrate the greatest levels of

efficiency and creativity are promoted

to the position of team leader

atMAW.

Cutting edge

A 5-axis CNC Router (a machine that

helps cut the basic template which

is then further refined by humans) is

now essential to maintain efficient

manufacturing processes, even in

a bespoke workshop. It takes the

drudge out of some of the tasks,

while also increasing accuracy. In

the current climate of uncertainty, of

keeping costs down, of responding

to reduced turnaround times and of

competing for work, the CNC helps

gain us much needed efficiencies.

Skilled craftspeople, linked with the

right supporting technology, is a

potent combination for a workshop.

Our cutting edge is the marriage

of the two: immense experience

in craftsmanship with up-to-date

machining technology.

Customer service

Quality making at MAW is backed

up by our unique customer service.

We visit sites or client offices to:

conduct initial consultations; perform

site surveys; provide estimates and

quotations from sketches or drawings;

and do the workshop drawing.

Wethen manufacture with a broad

variety of luxury materials, and wrap,

deliver and install using our own

makers, both home and abroad. There

are very few workshops that operate

to this level, but MAW has done so for

thirty years. Every step in the process

as described above, from inception to

sign-off, adds to the final definition

ofquality.

Our impact on the market

From being appointed Viscount

Linley’s workshop manager in 1986, to

setting up my own workshop in 1988,

I have set the benchmark for many

other workshops in terms of quality

standards and price. MAW continues

to innovate and inspire the field of

bespoke luxury furniture making by

continuing to embrace excellence in

craftsmanship. It is at MAW where

quality is fundamentally understood,

valued and evident in every piece

of work. No machine or mass

manufacture can hope to replicate this.

It is at MAW

where quality is

fundamentally

understood,

valued and

evident in every

piece of work

“

Contemporary kitchen in

Walnut, Country House

www.markwhiteley.com

The Parliamentary Review Publication, in which this article originally appeared, contained the following foreword from The Rt Hon Theresa May MP.

The Rt Hon Theresa May MP's Foreword For The Parliamentary Review

By The Rt Hon Theresa May MP

This foreword from the then Prime Minister appeared in the 2018/19 Parliamentary Review.

British politics provides ample material for analysis in the pages of The Parliamentary Review. For Her Majesty’s Government, our task in the year ahead is clear: to achieve the best Brexit deal for Britain and to carry on our work to build a more prosperous and united country – one that truly works for everyone.

The right Brexit deal will not be sufficient on its own to secure a more prosperous future for Britain. We also need to ensure that our economy is ready for what tomorrow will bring. Our Modern Industrial Strategy is our plan to do that. It means Government stepping up to secure the foundations of our productivity: providing an education system that delivers the skills our economy needs, improving school standards and transforming technical education; delivering infrastructure for growth; ensuring people have the homes they need in the places they want to live. It is all about taking action for the long-term that will pay dividends in the future.

But it also goes beyond that. Government, the private sector and academia working together as strategic partners achieve far more than we could separately. That is why we have set an ambitious goal of lifting UK public and private research and development investment to 2.4 per cent of GDP by 2027. It is why we are developing four Grand Challenges, the big drivers of social and economic change in the world today: harnessing artificial intelligence and the data revolution; leading in changes to the future of mobility; meeting the challenges of our ageing society; and driving ahead the revolution in clean growth. By focusing our efforts on making the most of these areas of enormous potential, we can develop new exports, grow new industries and create more good jobs in every part of our country.

Years of hard work and sacrifice from the British people have got our deficit down by over three quarters. We are building on this success by taking a balanced approach to public spending. We are continuing to deal with our debts, so that our economy can remain strong and we can protect people’s jobs, and at the same time we are investing in vital public services, like our NHS. We have set out plans to increase NHS funding annually by an average by 3.4 percent in real terms: that is £394 million a week more. In return, the NHS will produce a ten-year plan, led by doctors and nurses, to eliminate waste and improve patient care.

I believe that Britain can look to the future with confidence. We are leaving the EU and setting a new course for prosperity as a global trading nation. We have a Modern Industrial Strategy that is strengthening the foundations of our economy and helping us to seize the opportunities of the future. We are investing in the public services we all rely on and helping them to grow and improve. Building on our country’s great strengths – our world-class universities and researchers, our excellent services sector, our cutting edge manufacturers, our vibrant creative industries, our dedicated public servants – we can look towards a new decade that is ripe with possibility. The government I lead is doing all it can to make that brighter future a reality for everyone in our country.

British politics provides ample material for analysis in the pages of The Parliamentary Review

The Rt Hon Theresa May MP
Prime Minister