JANE SLADE meets master kitchen designer Mark Wilkinson who at 62 has just designed and built a pizza oven for his garden yurt
Mark Wilkinson OBE is a fabulous combination of Caractacus Potts and Peter Pan - mad inventor meets boy who won't grow up. His signature flamboyant dress and handlebar moustache is but a façade for his brilliance as a designer craftsman, which has set him apart in the world of cabinet makers for nearly 40 years.
He is best known for his range of beautiful bespoke kitchens, many of which have graced the homes of the rich and famous and such celebrity chefs as Rosemary Shrager; Dave (Hairy Biker) Myers; Michel Roux and Loyd Grossman, who have one apiece, Gary Rhodes, who has two, and Antony Worrall Thompson, who has bought four over the years.
A dyslexic boy who left school at 16 unable to read or write
His Wiltshire home, which he shares with his wife Cynthia, is a magnificent 7,000sq ft manor house he all but built himself, and says a lot about a dyslexic boy who left school at 16 unable to read or write.
"I have always worked for myself," Mark explains.
"When I left school unable to spell and without any qualifications, I was a competent craftsman. I had learned everything I needed to know from my father and grandfather who were cabinet makers."
Mark, was one of the founders of bespoke kitchen makers Smallbone of Devizes. Then in 1981 he branched out to create Unmistakably Mark Wilkinson and now his kitchens sell from £50,000 with most clients spending £70,000-plus.
The secret is to choose something that will never go out of fashion
His own kitchen has no eye-level cupboards but a large larder, outsize fridge and freezer, and dramatic granite worktops. "I am not an aesthete," he says. "I cook and use my kitchen. Kitchens should be comfortable and warm places. If you have low ceilings as I do, forgo wall units. Concentrate on what you like rather than what may be the current style and fashion.
"Some of my kitchens I designed 20 years ago - and they are still selling. The secret is to choose something that will never go out of fashion. That is the secret of good design."
"A home should be affirmative, welcoming and relaxing. If you have the space, your kitchen should be able to include your friends and family."
"It is a provider of food and should demonstrate love and care with those you care about. So make provision for tables, chairs, sofas, or a hammock if you are strapped for space."
He is currently building a huge two-storey workshop for his latest passion: spinning and weaving.
The petal shape of Tinker Bell's skirt gave him the idea for some door handles
"I made and dyed this sweater," he says, proudly pointing to his multi-coloured jumper. His textile emporium adjoins a self-contained apartment, which he has adorned with wallpaper he designed from some Elgar sheet music; a mirror made of wood screws, and a curtain of chain mail. A huge chain hoist he rescued from the MoD hangs in the middle, and a vast boiler door (pictured left) opens into a separate 
office. Inspiration for his designs comes from the strangest places.
The petal shape of Tinker Bell's skirt gave him the idea for some door handles; a trio of Dutch nuns some wooden candlesticks; a belt buckle some kitchen drawer knobs; Marilyn Monroe's figure a shapely wooden set of ornamental drawers and one of Audrey Hepburn's hats a lampshade (both pictured right).
He has turned a modest 15th century farmhouse into a lavish home dominated by a vast 52ft-long baronial dining room and sitting room with a 24ft-high vaulted ceiling. He bought the six chandeliers, which drop from the lofty abyss, as a job lot from Belarus and designed a pulley system to lower them when the bulbs need changing.
A lampstand inspired by the Chrysler building in New York
Confidence, beauty and eccentricity ooze from every corner. He has filled the space with books and quirky decorative features, including a model of HMS Victory, a skeleton of a sabre tooth tiger, a lampstand inspired by the Chrysler building in New York and a picture framed with part of a railway line.
"By the age of 16 I could make tables, chairs, windows and doors - not many youngsters could do that," he adds. "I knew I had a talent and could make a living. Even now I can't stop fiddling and wanting to make things look beautiful. I can't help it. I am a neurotic, compulsive kind of person." Despite his academic shortfalls Mark is a member of MENSA, and a fellow of both the City and Guilds Institute and the Royal Society of Arts. It took him 10 years to build his home, which will never really be finished because he keeps adding on bits.
He has used maple, oak and walnut as his staple woods and incorporated lots of textures, leather, steel, granite and glass, creating objects inspired by such diverse ideas as the catwalks of Milan and hockey sticks from Egypt.
"I hate all this minimalist stuff. I want more friendship, more fun, more love, and more laughter."
Hence the Wendy House, or wooden yurt (pictured above and below) as his delightful garden creation resembles, inspired by a cocktail of fairy tales and nursery rhymes. Think Goldilocks with a Mark Wilkinson twist. His magical little cedar roundhouse is surrounded by coloured wooden toadstools, perched on the edge of a pond next to some wild rosehips.
Inside there are some comfy chairs, a fridge, wine rack - and the pizza oven. He has even built what he calls a Goldilocks bench large enough to accommodate all three bears as well as Snow White and the seven dwarfs.
"It's a place to sit and get drunk with friends," he says of his yurt.
"I can use it all year round too because it has a wood-burning stove." Clearly Mark believes all work and no play would make him a very dull boy.
For more information on Mark Wilkinson furniture visit: www.mwf.com/01380 850007
Mark received an OBE for Services to the furniture industry in 2010 and supports GLAssessments in recognising spatial/visual thinkers and also Helen Arkell Dyslexia Community www.arkellcentre.org.uk
