Richard Baker
Due to a physical limitation that prevents him from blowing his own trumpet Richard Baker is quite possibly the best furniture designer you’ve never heard of. Born in 1961, the year of the E-type Jaguar and the son of a renowned English furniture maker, it was obvious from an early age that Richard had a burning desire not to do what his father did. However, after gaining a bunch of 5's in his CSE's, failing to finish box construction at technical college and getting fired from a men’s clothing emporium for wearing the wrong trousers his father decided he needed a course correction and put him to work in his factory sanding an infinite number of chair legs. So enamoured was Richard of his dusty new vocation that he ran away to Australia and thrived as a low achiever, he didn't look back, until he did. Having learnt the wisdom of actors, Richard returned to England and accepted his father's invisible cloak of credibility and so attired wrestled some cash from a hapless bank and with his wife Libby opened Rume, a furniture store with Richard as the creative director, which is a made up title that people without any qualifications use. Coming to terms with his imposter syndrome but not overcoming it Richard was surprised to discover that other people thought he was actually rather good at designing furniture, so he kept doing it and still does.
