Artist of the Month, February 2025 – Brian McKee

Brian McKee is primarily a furniture designer based in Ballynahinch, but he has also trained and worked as a photographer and in graphic design. His early training was in architecture, followed by furniture craft and design. After obtaining an MA in Furniture Design and Technology, he obtained a Post Graduate Diploma in the study of Design of Equipment for Disability – going on to work for the charity DEMAND in London, developing equipment for people with disabilities, as designer and then Project Manager. Brian eventually went on to start a studio workshop to design and make contemporary furniture.

Unwind 2 is part of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland Art Collection. This work resulted from being a recipient of the Rosemary James Memorial Award. The award enabled Brian to spend significant time on a long-cherished idea - to work with steam bending of timber in order to create curvaceous forms that would lend themselves to designing and making attractive and sculptural pieces of useful furniture. Much experimentation was involved, particularly to use the process to consistently bend thick hardwood to relatively tight radii of curvature.