Against The Grain - Documentary Film About Furniture Maker Sebastian Cox

[@jpgregor]

Probably the best 59 minutes and 12 seconds I spent on KZbin in a long time.

[@tintinsnowyful]

Lovely and thoughtful documentary. Thank you. I appreciate that Sebastian didn't really resolve his dilemma. I see from the comments that some felt he was selling out, others had differing interpretations. My feeling is...do both. Do design work for the Chinese factory as an additional income stream. Do custom and commissioned work that wealthy folks can afford. That way you can keep your lovely team of craftsmen & women employed and busy. I'm reminded of a Volvo advertisement from many years ago where they showed the Volvo ethos of small teams constructing a car from start to finish, instead of focusing on 'manufacturing categories'. I don't know if they still do that but it's nice to see the members of your team keeping that tradition alive.

[@davidcchambers]

Brilliantly conceiced and beautifully created. Thank you for sharing Sebastian's story here for the broadest of audiences to consume.

[@mariapilarme]

I brought a copy of a French famous furniture maker of the 1600’s made by a cabinet maker in the 1960’s it’s a beautiful thing, every day I admire his craftsmanship. It has bronces outside. Furniture makers are fantastic artist. Turning nature in high art.

[@thefinchworkshop]

Thoroughly enjoyed this and was inspired by the message. I'll look at my hobby in a different light now. More please.

[@atoms-to-atoms]

Seb Cox's has woven sustainability of furniture making into wonderful art....The richest people on the planet are the Seb Cox's of this world. Understanding the embedded cost of material which is taken for granted...well done all involved.....wonderful stuff, wonderful chisels. Capetown

[@victoriabakersmith9647]

From rewilding, no dig, buy what you need, this is a sensitive relative conversation in 24. Now is the time to plant a tree, sow some seed or ask/snip a cutting. Wonderful film, thank you.

[@PuraVetus]

This is by far the best documentary I've seen in a long time. Very inspiring since I want to start my own furniture business. A few days ago I found the line of furniture I want to make, I found my niche. Thank you for making this docu.

[@denisewascavage209]

Thank you! This question about how much more stuff do we need and our obsession with more and how do we sustain our planet is something that I struggle with everyday.

[@cummisk1]

What do you think licencing his designs to the Chinese contributes to "sustainability"?

[@PEH159-]

I grew up helping my father in his workshop,making furniture kitchens and dressers, chairs, tables everything made of wood, my great parent started this business, my grandfather followed in his footsteps and then my father, of course, it's my time now, I'm 27 now and I know this job of artisans is disappearing, maybe my son will continue with this business, at least I wish, nice video nice crew you have, I wish luck to all of you, maybe some words will be wrong, english is not my first language.

[@souslesbombes]

The way he thinks about woodworking is radical. I say that in the best way possible.

[@daniadejonghe4980]

by making things that are worth having not only for the immediate present buy for future generations... most 'stuff' is crap, no one will miss it when it is gone. Make something truly beautiful.

[@jraglob5924]

Excellent, I make things out of cast off wood. A lot from old pallet wood. I am always amazed at what I find when I mill the wood into a usable product. Often times stripping off the "finish" will reveal some real beauty in just the natural wood itself.

[@MrSzwedowski]

Very well documented film. A lot to think about after watching it.

[@rupertgale537]

Timeless elegance.

[@MartinOfEarth]

wonderful film, wonderful ppl

[@fionadrake7431]

Beautiful film, heart warming and so talented

[@johnemmett2969]

So disappointing when one reads of negative comment, obviously a very blinked view. A most enjoyable and informative program. Brilliant determination of a one off mind….thank goodness for people everywhere like Sebastian. (And his wife of course).

[@wilbertsabido6019]

hermoso documental, felicidades a la enorme creatividad del ched de la madera.. saludos desde mexico..

[@anoshya]

Fascinating documentary ..thanks

[@MrChrisWick]

As a hobby woodworker who moved from SE London to NZ, I have found that video very interesting. I might have to go visit next time I am back in the UK

[@paulsehstedt6275]

Wonderful cinematic photography and great storytelling.

[@ohcnap90]

what a fine video, thats all I save to say. Your work is unbelievable in a not not common way.

[@Jackson-T23]

10:28 Interesting fact. William Morris' designs are still widely prevalent today. The Morris chair has become synonymous with craftsmanship, functionality, and aesthetics. In fact, I'm sitting on one right now. It's become such an adopted design that it now goes by many other names. Mission chair, Craftsman chair, Amish chair, etc.

[@catakyar]

Just a lot of company PR and green washing. Most insidious way of entertaining. Beautifully put together marketing ploy. What's not to love...especially the bit at 55:00 talking about sustainable mass production loool

[@Jackson-T23]

I've subscribed to just about every woodworking channel on KZbin. I just found yours. The production quality of you documentary is outstanding......like sitting in a movie theater.

[@1qazandrew333]

Thank you. An insightful film into a very interesting maker.

[@ericchenard8636]

Wow! Amazing furniture! Congratulations on your efforts it is truly inspirational!! Thank you for doing your part in saving the planet.

[@kevbartley8458]

done for woodwork sustainablity what Clarkson has done for farming. Amazing.

[@davepowell7168]

🤣

[@GB-mu9ue]

Lmao nice back-handed compliment

[@jolandabeach8784]

Quite inspiring

[@joellaycock2735]

Very inspirational in so many ways, thanks for sharing

[@ForgeAheadwithMike]

Great documentary. I agree - we just have to make things that are less harmful to earth.

[@ianforeman4377]

This renews my faith in people

[@soniawoolley366]

What a great story ...

[@rihanwoodworks7123]

Beautiful work! Beautiful film!

[@bertanimation7436]

sensational. Making notes the whole way through

[@smukherje169]

Fabulous

[@gedreillyhomestead6926]

Sebastian's philosophy and furniture reminds me of the work of Tim Stead a great Artist Woodworker. 👍

[@akfisher7138]

Tim Stead did not get his work made abroad and shipped back to UK to make a bigger profit. The whole film is just justification for making more profit by outsourcing. The film is beautifully made, The furniture on the other hand is just a big contradiction. Diesel ships are not clean.

[@dunk101parkls]

​@@akfisher7138that was one part of the film. Sebs ethos is sustainable, it was made that made the china mass production products not Seb . He was the designer not the maker.

[@TheMickeynatureamok]

This is what you call in Germany "Selbstbeweihräucherung" (self-congratulations with incense), the music of this movie and the slow motion of the wood chips give the rest!

[@TheFiown]

'Sustainability' is also and for me above all in making things so well made and beautiful that they transcend fashion and time. I always buy second hand furniture because it is cheap, well made usually and has real function. I can't see anyone throwing out something well made and beautiful. In grand old homes there is usually a mix of periods because people didn't get rid of beautiful things, they just added to them. For me the last period of well made and well designed furniture is mid century, it fit's in with most styles and is usually really well made.

[@johncamp7679]

She made the right call not having an undercut on the carved table. It appeared “light” by the carving. My opinion.

[@yoyopg123]

I echo other comments accolades on the film making as well as applaud the subject of Seb and his team. But there is a certain degree of onanism about the "sustainability" subject/mindset and trying to shoehorn that into a model that also values fair labor practices and broad accessibility of their products to the public. And if economic freedom is also to be part of the consideration, it gets even more difficult to mesh together. Seb is a high-end, bespoke furniture maker and the people buying his stuff are buying his story and philosophy as much as the more tangible, beautiful objects he creates. All that is completely consistent and honest when kept in the UK, working with local craftspeople and local businesses subscribing to the same philosophies. As soon as you take it to China, then you are no different than any other designer. Which is fine. If the his designs are successful, the Chinese will just copy and mass produce them anyway, so there is an argument for getting in first - especially if it gives you some say over materials and quality. At the end of the day, only the wealthy can afford the costs of skilled craftsman paid fairly for their labor, building new things from new designs, from highly selective materials. That will never change. The only way to make it more "affordable" is to compromise on one or more of those core components. Or you can introduce laws that make manufacturers responsible for the end of life costs of disposing their cheap products - which will drive the costs up for everything just to pay for all the regulations that would require. Those who value the concept of sustainability but can't afford the costs will look to the 2nd hand market - thrifting, repairing, and upcycling as an expression of those values. But the vast majority of people on earth only concern themselves with new design/fashion options that are inexpensive. I'm constantly amazed by the number of people who have difficulty assessing quality, so price is the main driver. The number of sagging Billy Bookcases to be seen cast out on the streets of San Francisco daily is testimony to this fact.

[@amyschneidhorst1384]

There is no perfect solution but the art is in creatively pursuing alternative paths, drawing on the past within the limitations and potential of our current systems. If you want perfection and purity, then either we have to return to artists having private patrons or upending the capitalist system.

[@ChickenDinnerz]

Thank you for making this film. Seb was an inspiration to me before. Now even more so!

[@alanmatthews9260]

Would love to see a tutorial on that cabinet door panel weave!

[@osirisfeliz2390]

So many concepts that resonate. Certainly gives me confidence to continue moving in paths that are in sync because it takes the collective to make real change. Peace.

[@threestarfancywoodworks1902]

Very nice ❤

[@VitalityMassage]

36:14 He's worrying about "high spots" while people are starving someplace far off or even right there in the UK.

[@UdellYoutube]

Sensational, nevertheless thank you for the awareness.

[@josenandorossipr]

bravo

[@dominiccon8967]

thank you for the great and inspiring film! at the end a briquette machine is briefly mentioned. which machine is it and are you satisfied with it? thank you in advance ;)

[@sunsetcypress]

Also very interested in this as well and it was just glanced over.

[@jamesmacdonald5881]

Was really liking the ethos at the beginning but ended with a real hypocritical contradiction. Can’t blame him for taking the money and pride, creating a successful business, most would do the same. But can’t pretend that he’s kept to the original core beliefs outlined in the beginning.

[@akfisher7138]

'family owning woodland' tells you he is rather rich boy....hmmm an now cuts down other's woods, and runs a factory.

[@tomstopper5281]

IKEA is not being honest about their sustainability. You better get better informed about how they are using subcontractors that are destroying woodland in Romania.

[@johnparr5879]

In truth the docmentery is... With the grain.... Almost touching the sacredness, that truly in a mundane world.... Brings into true focus.... In.... simply being..... Human *

[@madpainter7114]

The answer is to be a restorer ,like me,like your parents.

[@andrewwilde1807]

Just an hour of marketing bollocks 🤷‍♂️

[@MikeAG333]

Perhaps the shallowest, most vacuous, and most disappointing post I have seen on KZbin for days. And when you think of the sheer nonsense posted on KZbin every single second of the day, that really is saying something.

[@gbwildlifeuk8269]

andrewwilde 1807 the range, dunelm, b&m will be your level.

[@jacobhicks7959]

This is so much simpler than folks make it. Governments around the world can control how much wood moves with import and export tariffs. If you want to reduce the landfill foder make it more economical to buy well built stuff that wears well and keep it.

[@davepowell7168]

Milling with windpower ?

[@b.scarpia7159]

Rather than destroying your ethos surely it would be better to market to the Proles a $200 kit of saw, chisels, jack plane , sharpening stone, and directions to Burnham Wood.

[@gbwildlifeuk8269]

A copy of Rob Cosmos you mean!

[@carsonforrester3061]

Build something nice. The facts of life are some people are able to buy expensive pieces . I am not one of them but that’s just the facts. Not everyone can have high end expensive furniture and that’s ok

[@PDogB]

Please rethink your use of American Ash wood. We are losing these trees rapidly due to the ash borer insects.

[@ericsmith8121]

Quite a few places are cutting good ash trees at the first sign of ash borer, or even before, in an attempt to slow the spread, so there's quite a bit of it available that might otherwise just be burned or ground up into compost.

[@MrZOMBIE170]

23:40 most workshops work that way nothing particularly special about that

[@duggaboy]

I always like to listen to someone talk themselves into compromise...i mean justification.

[@daniadejonghe4980]

@@duggaboy ahhhh I see you have lived a spotless, compromise free life. Well done!

[@ukosawpancerny9580]

😍😍😍

[@johncamp7679]

I don’t mind paying for quality, I do mind paying for status.

[@fernandocortes1187]

19:30 lámpara

[@MagniJoensen]

does Sebastian take in apprentices?

[@gbwildlifeuk8269]

I think thats what the 5 young people there are! (Take on apprentices, not take in.)

[@lxduc]

Everything very romantic and wright, but the prices on the website of this kind gentleman are not in order with the philosophy, we must remind us that they where craftsman not business men

[@erichaskell]

Sustainability is great, making a lot of money is great. Do not mass produce, do not sell out, the common man can buy Chinese goods.

[@Chen-gl9hm]

Nice marketing trick.....

[@unknownboulder1205]

besides being a reasonable good craftsman, he is a brilliant demagogue :))

[@gbwildlifeuk8269]

And youre neither!

[@unknownboulder1205]

and you can't spell " you're" @@gbwildlifeuk8269

[@timeisahumanconstruct9251]

bro, not everything has to be available for the masses...we want scarce luxury!

[@papatinpan]

Dude's a hack. His guilt for participating in a craft he "enjoys", is the reason for all this pretense. Roy Underhill, was the first famous Woodworker to promote conservation, reclaimed wood, planting farms in conjunction with sustainable farming. But he was the voice of many woodworkers & craftsman who felt the same way. Honestly Mr. Cox work is pedestrian by many craftsman standard, & there are plenty of amazing craftsman doing amazing work, who hold his views, which he appropriated. His marketing of playing on heart strings of environmentalists & the fine art institution has served him well.

[@daniadejonghe4980]

@@papatinpan mean and jealous. how do you know your assumptions about his motivations have any basis in fact? It doesn’t really matter who pays for his furniture. It matters how he takes care of the land, how he does his work and how he provides work for others.

[@papatinpan]

@@daniadejonghe4980 Mean? No just don't suffer fools & charlatan Craftsmen. Jealous? HAHAHAHA! Hardly, I've been doing antique restoration/sign work & fabrication over 20years along with communities on wood conservation & urban fauna. I couldn't be happier

[@sjc1963]

I like what your doing, not so sure about mass production . don't think William Morris would like that . Have you ever looked at all the wood that is taken to the dump .

[@АлександрСтепанов-ч2ю]

Фильм был бы не плохой , если бы в нём не было столько пафоса и пазёрства. Скромнее, скромнее.

[@boooshes]

When you focus on sustainability and hand craftsmanship your products are expensive, your customers are wealthy and they actually need nothing that they buy. You are making trinkets for the rich which then is a waste of resources. When you determine a means of producing a widely affordable product, it will be purchased, used, and thrown away by the middle class because it doesn't have enough value to pass from generation to generation. The only answer to sustainable products is to hand make high quality products and sell them affordably and accept your own poverty as a maker.

[@matt818]

Seems like the conclusion of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

[@joshjenkinson1929]

As a woodworker, my aim is to enjoy the worthwhile endeavour of creating quality long lasting pieces without getting too much into environmental cork sniffing. Do the best you can whilst realising we are all consumers and users of materials and don’t get too obsessed or pretentious about it!

[@joshjenkinson1929]

A good answer for true sustainability would be to make woodwork compulsory in schools and encourage people to be more self sufficient and to craft what they need for themselves, rather than relying on corporations. Hand built furniture would last for generations and the need for places like IKEA would be a lot less.

[@esterhudson5104]

I’ll pass.

[@matt818]

The answer is a multifaceted approach that aims to rewire the consumer understanding of reality in a complex capitalist consumerist society. The entire framework of this system is often hidden and needs further exposure through gradual, transparent education by makers. 'Affordability' is misunderstood when the true nature of mass produced products compromises durability. The maker must encourage the shift in thinking from short-term savings to long-term value. Also, the idea of 'accepting your own poverty as a maker' is redundant because to do so would be... unsustainable.

[@jimmyburn1059]

should have gone with the undercut

[@andrewpiper2880]

I think a lot of these comments are tinged by the green monster..quite mean spirited, by keyboard warriors. Quality lasts through the generations...who said it had to be cheap..? Great movie...well done I say.

[@Geraldbux-411]

He's got that Prince Harry vibe going... doesn't he!

[@mindforestpodcast]

Interesting documentary. I can't avoid the conclusion that he didn't really believe what he was saying at the end about the principles of his WISH collaboration. Frankly, seems like he compromised and he knows it.

[@andrewgaul]

This is like a coming of age tale of a young idealist, growing up and realising that the world is more complex than can be described by one philosophical idea. A very well made advertisement for this privileged guys furniture company. No matter how he tries to convince himself, he is trying to get rich off the backs of underprivileged Chinese workers. It was a great film until we find out at the end that the main dude is a massive hypocrite.

[@davepage6428]

Lovely video but twaddle. What he should really do that would benefit the planet is take all his copied wood and turn it into biochar which can then benefit the soil. An example of someone really making a difference is the musician Andy Cato whom is one half of Groove Armada whom decided to get involved with regenerative agriculture.

[@mightymcduff2056]

Furniture making has gone so far up it's own arse, it's painful to watch.

[@untokyo]

Who is this guy?

[@David-q8g4n]

Great until principles went out of the window. Completely undermined the story and the brand values. Re-think. Seriously.

[@laius6047]

Its annoying that carpenter/furniture maker is treaded as someone so special. Guys we only make stuff from wood. Calm down

[@carolynraffl8271]

It’s a journey towards perfection. How many people strive for perfection these days. Pride in one’s work is lost in today’s world.

[@rollinrock6696]

Ra ra ra

[@liutasuk]

Can you just make furniture without promoting marx ideology.

[@paulfowler3416]

Marx ideology? What is that and when was it mentioned?

[@Michael-mr3rv]

Sorry I should have spelt aggrandizing correctly, PS as for the notion that this video "Discover(s) the life of one of the great innovators of craft" ..... I am speechless. Well nearly. Look on KZbin and you will find countless numbers of unpretentious artisans who fit the billing better.

[@rossanctuary5238]

Hello, are you hiring. You can throw me into the deep end also.. 😅

[@kullerko]

21:16 Drawers opening not smooth at all and you using it for display.

[@bubuche1886]

greenwashing

[@Jehrichify]

Well, I think there is a contradiction in selling sustainable but highly expensive funiture to rich people who distroy the world with their way of living or businesses. Am I wrong?

[@MH-qy5hh]

Loved most of this story, really admire the artistry and ethos. But… you sold out, shame.

[@brendanrobinson6860]

Mmm. a marketing video? Selling out for money and pretending to be noble. I am not convinced; but yes, the video, like the original furniture is beautiful and well made. But then again so is deception.

[@andrewarthurmatthews6685]

Why use that irritating and unnecessary background music ?

[@georgecavanaugh8757]

Get off of it already. You can’t have a damn furniture documentary without the tree hugging talk.

[@dougmcdonald300]

Does he pay for the coppiced wood from the forestry commision? Good to use other peoples land and wood instead of your own, ha ha

[@bertus-janmeijer5221]

Not buying or even making new furniture is the sustainable thing to do here. Buy an old piece in a thriftstore, save it from a skip, and admire the non-ikea quality that easily lasts another generation, if you can handle its uglyness....uh see its beauty I mean....

[@Dirhfifkshdi]

Lovely documentary. Absolutely shit furniture