David Trubridge has designed and made furniture for 27 years. He has a degree in Naval Architecture, but took up furniture making as a lifestyle choice in Britain in the early seventies. A number of public collections in Britain hold his work, including the Victoria and Albert Museum. He arrived in New Zealand in 1985, having sailed from Europe with his family on their yacht. Since then he has exhibited regularly, both within New Zealand and internationally, and has been included in the International Design Yearbook. In 1999 he showed work at 100% Design in London as part of the Loop Group of designers. In 2000 he was an invited presenter at the American Furniture Society annual conference in Toronto, where he made a demonstration piece under the sponsorship of 3M Ltd. This year he has exhibited pieces at the Milan Furniture Fair. His Body Raft is currently in the foyer of Aucklands premium hotel, Metropolis. He also works as an Architectural Designer, working mainly on new masonry homes. His current work draws on his Naval Architecture training, his experience with boats and his considerable knowledge of woodworking techniques. Computer 3D drawing programmes are a new area of research for creating forms. He is trying to spend more time on the development of new designs, allowing others to do the production work. To this end he is involved in the setting up of a new workshop facility in Hawkes Bay, modelled on the Jam Factory in Adelaide. This will manufacture larger batch runs of his designs.