Shining the spotlight
on Julian Tatham!

Group Design Director

Julian joined the Decorative Panels team in November 2000 as our Design Director. Amazingly, he actually remembers that it was our previous receptionist, Christine Gawthorpe’s birthday on the day he started, so it would have been the 13th of November. 

Julian has always been deeply involved within the design and development team, but his role has expanded over the years, as has the design department.  When he joined, he was a one-person team but the department has grown over the years to the busy office it is now and covers a very wide range of responsibilities, from trend monitoring through to providing information required by production in the factories. 

Life outside of Decorative Panels is jam packed full of hobbies for Julian. He spends a lot of time walking in the hills and is an active member of the local Ramblers Association walking group in Sheffield, a member of the British Mountaineering Club and of the Chamois Mountaineering Club who have a hut in Snowdonia.  He is currently part way through his Mountain Leaders qualification which he assures us he will finish one day… Another interest is working with wood, Julian is involved in sustainable forestry and green building techniques – “I have worked with Ben Law of Grand Design fame on cruck framed buildings.”  When he finally gets round to relaxing, he does enjoy watching a movie or two on Netflix. 

We asked Julian to complete this sentence. “I love…”he tells us,?“Other than working with wood and spending time in the great outdoors a great love has been, and continues to be, my children.  Spending time with them and being part of their lives, watching them learn, grow, and find their way in life – they are a constant joy – as they keep telling me especially when they are being challenging!  They are grown up now but I still love being involved in their lives.”  

Julian finds lots of motivation within the workplace and enjoys getting jobs done and done right.  Working in design he is constantly learning new things, finding new materials, putting them together in different ways that look good and finding ways to solve problems, there is always a way.  And of course, being part of the team creating and documenting products for the good of the business. 

Julian tells us he was always going to be involved in wood, his dad was a joiner and he ‘helped’ him from an early age. Having studied 3D design at High Wycombe College, which at the time was the place to go to do furniture, he spent a lot of time in the fantastically equipped wood machine shop making many pieces of furniture.  Since then, he has worked for numerous furniture manufacturers and retailers in design and development – what else would he have done!?