15369/2FURNITURE designed and made in Pewsey is included in an arts and crafts revival exhibition in London.

Fred Baier, whose workshops are tucked away off the High Street in Whatley's Yard, was commissioned by leading London store Liberty's to make a table and chairs for the exhibition called Spirit of Liberty.

Mr Baier has worked in Pewsey for 17 years, moving from London to follow another top wood craftsman Johnny Hawkes who runs Pewsey Woodworkers just a few yards away in River Street.

He and Mr Hawkes had worked together in London and are regarded as among the country's leading furniture designers.

The famous Regent Street store Liberty's is trying to recreate the past.

The store opened at the height of the arts and crafts movement and attracted some of the country's leading crafts people to design and make furniture.

At one stage Liberty's also had its own workshops and employed its own craftsmen.

Mr Baier said he was delighted when he had a commission from Liberty's to make a table and chairs in the arts and crafts style for the Spirit of Liberty exhibition.

He describes the shape of the table as between a cube and a sphere "rather like the die view of a First World War tank" with a geometric veneered inlay.

Also included in the exhibition are what he calls a "black hole" table based on the galactic phenomenon and "here and now" stools whose design is based on an Einstein theory.

The furniture was all made in the Pewsey workshops by Mr Baier and his colleague Matt Ryan.