Howard and Hugh Miller have been designing and making together since childhood.
Being brothers, they share an understanding and ambition that transcends most normal business partnerships. Central to their success as a team is that the brothers bring complementary skills, architecture and furniture making, that combine into something greater than the sum of their parts.
AWARD-WINNING ARCHITECT
Howard Miller
Howard is a designer through-and-through and has been a chartered architect for over 15 years. After graduating from Glasgow School of Art and the Bartlett School of Architecture, Howard practiced in London, New York and Sydney.
With an approach to design that combines man-made and natural elements, Howard aims to create tactile, beautiful, elegant spaces that are a delight to live in. His work spans disciplines and scales, from private residences, to schools and institutional buildings, to landscapes and gardens. Howard's work in architecture has been published widely, and he was lead architect on a number of award-winning projects including Whitehorse Primary School, Croydon and the Tray House, London.
Howard began exploring landscape design when he moved back to the North West, and achieved international recognition for his gold-medal winning Dark Matter garden at the Chelsea Flower Show. His landscape design clients include Alder Hey Children's Hospital and Haringey Council in London.
Away from the studio, Howard has taught widely, including being a studio lead at Liverpool University School of Architecture, and being a visiting critic at Brighton University.
Every spare moment is spent at his beloved allotment.
Master in wood
HUGH MILLER
A master woodworker, furniture maker, and details person, Hugh's passion for wood as a material started when he was young. He made his first piece of furniture at 15 and, after earning a Masters in architecture at the University of Sheffield, founded his workshop at the age of 24.
Hugh is a Winston Churchill Memorial Fellow, traveling widely in Japan for his research study on Japanese wood craftsmanship. Hugh's book on the subject has sold over 1000 physical copies, and is available as a free PDF here. He has lectured widely on the subjects of Japanese design, furniture and it;s relationship to architecture, and making a design process.
Hugh's furniture has been shown widely, including exhibitions at the Saatchi Gallery, London, in the British Pavilion at the Cheongju Craft Biennale, South Korea, and in the Næstved Museum, Denmark.
Outside of the workshop, Hugh also designs for established luxury brands including Benchmark Furniture, Savoir Beds, and IceHotel Sweden. He is a design tutor at Newcastle University School of Architecture in the UK, and a visiting professor at Osaka Institute of Technology, Japan.
When away from the workshop, Hugh loves spending time in the mountains.
CRAFTSMANSHIP
Masters in Wood
Experimentation, prototyping and re-thinking old ideas are at the essence of all our kitchens.
When a client wanted a place to put up her children’s drawings, we developed a cork-clad cabinet door for her that could take push pins; when another client wanted her kitchen to be a place to sit quietly, we designed her a modern dresser complete with reading seat; and when a client expressed frustration at the standard air inlets at the bottom of fridges, we invented a sleek, crafted vent that we now incorporate into all our kitchens.
This approach comes from the brothers’ background as designers - Howard in architecture and Hugh in furniture. It’s a pedigree that is as fundamental to us today as it was when the brothers founded the workshop over a decade ago.
THE ENVIRONMENT
Our commitment to creating a environmentaly sustainable business
At H. Miller Bros, we recognize and enthusiastically accept our responsibility to work in an environmentally conscious and sustainable way.
We are committed to continually searching for ways to reduce the impact of our work on the enviromnet: in the materials we buy; the processes we use; and the waste we create and how it is disposed.
Over the many years we have been making luxury wood furniture and kitchens, we have discovered some amazing environmentally conscious materials and processes that we’re very keen to incorporate into our projects. If you’re looking to create a design-lead project in wood, that’s as environmentally responsible as it is beautiful, we’d love to hear from you.
THE H. MILLER BROS. WORKSHOP
Where the magic happens...
The H. Miller Bros. workshop is located in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle, on the south of the city centre. Our home is a warehouse built in 1916, that we have transformed into a contemporary furniture workshop. This sense of history and renewal chimes with the way we work – using both traditional hand tools and state-of-the-art equipment to create unique, design-lead, crafted, projects in wood.
Visiting Us:
It's easy to get to us by train, car or air! We’re 1 mile from Liverpool Lime Street station, where there are direct trains to London every hour. If you’re driving, there is 2 hours free parking on the street outside our workshop at all times. And if you’re coming from further afield, Liverpool John Lennon Airport is located just 7.5 miles south of our workshop (20-25 minute taxi ride).
