Ian Milnes

Ian Milnes is a British artist whose practice explores the expressive potential of wood through sculptural furniture and objects. Drawing upon training in traditional furniture making and French furniture restoration, he has developed a contemporary approach to marquetry that extends historical craft techniques beyond their decorative origins. 

Milnes grew up in the North York Moors National Park, a landscape he describes as one of wide spaces and contradictions: apparently wild, yet deeply shaped by human intervention. He initially studied science and engineering before moving towards the arts. His interest in furniture developed through an encounter with a reproduction of a Ruhlmann cabinet made by someone with whom he trained. The precision and layering of detail prompted a lasting interest in French furniture and led him to train with a specialist in French furniture restoration.

This grounding in historical furniture continues to inform his practice. Milnes works with techniques including hand-cut marquetry, free-form lamination and tonal ink work, approaching them not as fixed traditions but as an evolving visual language. His interest lies in what established techniques can be made to express when they are approached with greater freedom and allowed to develop through the process of making.

Painting has become an important point of reference. Milnes is particularly interested in the immediacy of painted gestures: marks that appear meticulous from a distance but reveal their speed and intuition when viewed closely. He seeks to achieve something comparable through wood, developing methods that allow spontaneous decisions to remain visible within a medium that requires considerable preparation and precision. His references extend across disciplines, from Van Dyck, Caravaggio and Sesshū Tōyō to jazz, gardens and the work of figures including André-Charles Boulle, Jean-Henri Riesener, Armand-Albert Rateau, Les Lalanne, Dale Chihuly and Alexander McQueen.

Over time, Milnes has moved away from intensely figured exotic veneers towards more subtle varieties, allowing greater emphasis on tonal relationships and the individual character of the wood. His growing interest in Baroque art has also introduced questions around nature, power, decay and decadence, while recent experimentation with cast metalwork represents the gradual expansion of his material vocabulary. 

Milnes was awarded the Bespoke Guild Mark by the Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers for his Mille Feuille coffee table. His work has since been presented internationally by Charles Burnand Gallery at PAD London in 2024, Design Miami in 2024 and Salon Art + Design, New York, in 2025.