Adam Williams by Rachael Smith

ADAM WILLIAMS
Photographs Rachael Smith
Words Dominic Bradbury

Furniture designer and sculptor Adam Williams splits his time between two captivating rural settings. He has a home and studio in Somerset, not far from Glastonbury, where his furniture business is based, while many of the artisans he collaborates with are close to hand. Yet he also has a particular love of his Norfolk retreat – an old pumping mill on the edge of the Broads.

Williams comes here whenever he can to recharge and find inspiration, sometimes accompanied by his teenage children. The mill sits on his best friend’s country estate and can only be reached by boat or via a walk down a long marshland track. To one side sits a river route popular with Broads pleasure cruisers in the summer months, while to the other the view is totally private, with Wiliams’ deck terrace overlooking marshland beloved of otters and marsh harriers.

Williams designed a simple but charming timber extension to add to the original early Victorian mill, offering a new open plan living area and kitchen leading onto the timber deck, as well as a new mater bedroom. The mill is populated with vintage fishing trophies, Broadland curios and family pieces forming a contemporary mélange totally in keeping with the natural beauty of the setting. It is a place to recharge, draw and sketch, feeding Williams’ imagination, spurring new ideas for his large scale sculptures and his bespoke furniture, which graces Claridges, The Arts Club, Chatsworth and many private homes here and abroad.