Bart's been busy

Andrew Simpson now involved in GoCarbon, a wood-carbon composite furniture maker

Since winning a second Olympic medal in the Star class at London 2012, Iain Percy's crew Andrew Simpson has been busy with his sideline, GoCarbon, a company producing high quality furniture.

The company started when  Simpson was talking about other potential projects with master craftsman Alex Newton, whom built their winning Star boat of the 2008 Olympics. With Andrew’s brother in law, James Tyler, an expert in wood and furniture trade, GoCarbon was started.

The Unique collaboration has led to fusion of carbon and wood, and has resulted in unique handcrafted pieces of furniture made in England. "Building boats capable of winning Olympics requires incredible attention to detail. This pursuit of excellence has transferred to furniture, where every piece made is a work of Art," says Simpson.

GoCarbon made a prototype version of the Darwin 2012 Chair which was well received at Top Drawer early this year. The chair is made from carbon for the seat and bow and of ash for the legs and back. Its shape was designed by Dave Green, GoCarbon recreating it in their own style, the carbon part of the chair finished in high gloss contrasting with the ash.

"Following on from the huge success of the Olympics and our Silver medal at the games we are launching a limited edition version of the Darwin 2012 Chair," add Simpson. 

The Darwin 2012, will be limited to 500 pieces, and each one will have wood sourced from the Abbotsbury Swannery, not far from where Simpson won his silver medal in August. Each chair is individually handcrafted and can have the sail number of the owner's favourite boat built in the underside of the chair. The chair is available for £2500.

“I am delighted that our first chair is now available," Simpson concludes. "The team have worked really hard and are really proud to be building handmade furniture in England”.