John Makepeace discovered a passion for wood at six. Early in his career, his designs were being sold by Heals and Liberty’s. These led to corporate commissions for international companies. In 1976, he bought historic Parnham House to establish a College in parallel with his own studio. Alumni include Konstantin Grcic, Sean Sutcliffe, Juliane Trummer, Rod Wales and Jim Partridge. By 1983, he was raising the funds and building a new woodland campus to research, demonstrate and teach the more scientific and creative use of forest produce, now part of the Architectural Association. In 2010, the Arts Council mounted a fifty-year retrospective of his work, and he won the Prince Philip Designers Prize 2016.  He has recently completed commissions in Hong Kong, Los Angeles and for three universities in the UK.