Our manifesto
From tree to table
Our future depends on trees.
Use wood thoughtfully.
Your table was once a tree.
Some day it could be something else.
Make sure your wood hasn’t travelled too far.
Reuse where possible.
Demand that it’s sustainably grown.
Buy less. Use your hands more.
Question how things are made, and what they are made from.
Learn how to make something — it's revolutionary.
Invest in the traditions of craftsmanship.
Good design, made well, lasts longer.
Invite others to your table.
Enduring beauty is meant to be shared.
Create spaces that feed the soul.
Let’s reset our relationship to the living world.
Our everyday choices have power.
Choose as if all life depends on it.
The Goldfinger story
Design and sustainability pioneers Marie Cudennec Carlisle and Oliver Waddington-Ball opened the doors to Goldfinger at the foot of Trellick Tower in 2013. Named after Ernö Goldfinger — the infamous architect of our Grade II listed Brutalist home and inspiration for Ian Fleming’s notorious Bond villain — we decided to take its literal meaning as guiding inspiration: the material we touch, we turn to gold.
Bespoke furniture
The art of joinery happens in our North Kensington workshop. We design and craft bespoke furniture and homeware for residential homes and many London businesses, such as hotels to cafes, shops and offices. Many of our design classics are available in our online shop too.
Goldfinger Academy
We teach marginalised young people the craft of woodworking as well as business and marketing skills, so they can progress into meaningful work. We also offer Soulcraft courses, workshops and corporate away-days that enhance wellbeing and celebrate the joys of making.
People's Kitchen
We're fighting food waste and social isolation through our charitable initiative, People's Kitchen. Three Sundays a month, we cook and deliver restaurant-quality meals made from surplus food to vulnerable residents in the local community, supported by our dedicated volunteers.
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Marie Cudennec Carlisle, CEO & Co-Founder
Growing up in rural Hong Kong (yes that does exist!), Marie grew to love the natural world and became determined to end the waste that she saw around her. She has led the Goldfinger team since 2017 to become a respected social enterprise that has won the support of Hermès, John Lewis and Tom Dixon. She started her career in luxury branding and product marketing at LVMH, Richemont and Estée Lauder. In her spare time, Marie can be found on her yoga mat and blogging about her favourite recipes.
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Alex Cunningham, Head of Design & Operations
Alex has a Masters in Mechanical Engineering from Bristol, and loves to get his hands on big projects. His passion for design has sent him all around the world; developing treehouses in Brazil, volunteering on a ferro-cement boat in Spain, building with recycled materials at a Texan social enterprise and working on experimental structures with the Architectural Association. Alex now heads up Goldfinger’s bespoke furniture design and operations, driven by a love of natural materials and traditional craftsmanship.
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Leslie Feeney Baily, Head of Partnerships
With a background in architecture and design, Leslie is an entrepreneur with a focus on product design and project management. She first came into contact with Goldfinger as a client, and now works with us to develop design partnerships and help with client strategy. Leslie has managed a successful fashion accessories design and production firm since 1991. She has lived in West London since 1999, and is a passionate supporter of several local charities and human rights organisations.
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Carl Blücher, Head of Retail and Creative
After cutting his teeth at Central St Martins School of Art and Design, Carl has gained 20 years' experience in the art, design and retail industries - from design and branding to buying and marketing. He also runs a pottery business on the side, and likes to spend his spare time on the coast of Kent, normally with his miniature Dachshund Mr Big by his side.
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Jessica Bennett, Head of Development
Jessica joined us with over ten years experience of working with the charity sector, most recently for Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres where she led the London fundraising campaign to bring more Maggie’s Centres to London, and previously for Breast Cancer Care. She is passionate about driving positive change through charitable and social enterprise initiatives. In her (limited) spare time she can be found enjoying time with her two young children or on her yoga mat.
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Daniele Barco, In-House Designer & Maker
Daniele began his design career early, building skate ramps for himself and his friends, because there weren't any in his home town. He later graduated in industrial design in Rome. Daniele co-created a design collective in 2010, focused on bespoke furniture design, making, and teaching workshops, with a special focus on upcycling and DIY. He has a deep appreciation for traditional techniques in woodworking.
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Sophie Rose, Showroom & Office Manager
Sophie has a background in writing, performing and producing live arts and community programmes, with projects taking place in forests, coffee shops, boats and palaces. As a champion of commercial yet compassionate enterprise, she has a passion for transforming spaces and facilitating change. She can be found managing the showroom, making connections, and working her magic to keep the Goldfinger team on track.
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Anna Kidel, Marketing and Communications Manager
Anna looks after all things marketing and comms at Goldfinger. She joined the Goldfinger family in 2019, after several years working in the creative industries. She loves expressing her creativity to share the story of Goldfinger, from copywriting to product photography. In her spare time, she dabbles in her own small-scale furniture business and enjoys whipping up adventurous recipes.
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Noel Madison Fettingsmith, Academy Manager
Noel joined the Goldfinger Team after moving to London from Chicago bringing skills in collaborative making, education, furniture and architecture production. As Project Manager Noel coordinates and delivers Goldfinger Academy’s courses, and is passionate about engaging society through employment within cultural production. When he is not at Goldfinger, he is exploring his new home as actively as possible, whether by bike, on foot, and/or dancing along the way.
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Rosey Marsh, Chief Financial Officer
Rosey is our in-house numbers and spreadsheet guru. She worked for BP as Finance Manager for their Global Business Services organisation, from its inception in 2008 right through to a multi-centre, global organisation with over 6,000 people. In 2016, Rosey retired, and now supports Goldfinger in an informal pro-bono CFO role. She has an honours degree in Maths and Chemistry, and a PhD in Polymer Science. She is also a keen skier, sailor, and sax player!
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Nico Nugee, Retail and Marketing Assistant
Having recently graduated from Exeter university with a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics, Nico was attracted to Goldfinger due to its focus on sustainability and community. Alongside taking care of Goldfinger’s E-commerce distribution network, he is involved in many of Goldfinger’s facets including retail and marketing. Bringing experience working as a chef and keen passion for food, Nico also coordinates our charitable initiative, People's Kitchen: To Your Door.
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Harriet Cox, Marketing Assistant
Harriet is a Trend forecaster with over 10 years of experience tracking cultural shifts and changing consumer behaviours for global brands. Always keen to learn about the people behind the idea, she enjoys working with socially conscious brands and independents to champion their values through engaging storytelling, products and campaigns. Harriet also runs Girls Done Good designing and selling products, donating a percentage of profits to causes that inspire, educate and empower women.
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Teddy Cudennec Carlisle, Chief Welcoming Officer
Teddy joined Goldfinger upon graduating from puppy training classes and has been an energetic and indispensable member of the team ever since. He has a deep appreciation for previously discarded objects and is often found keeping our backs warm while he naps on the chairs in the Goldfinger office.
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Tim Church, Corporate Governance
Tim retired in 2016 as CEO of MIO Partners, Inc. the investment office of McKinsey & Company, having joined the firm in 1991. Prior to that he was at Advent Ltd a UK based venture capital firm. Tim is chairman of The HALO Trust the world’s leading mine clearance charity and a trustee of Aid to the Church in Need and The Orders of St John Care Trust. He is a senior advisor to Actis LLC a leading emerging markets hard assets private investment firm, on the Investment Committee of Lakeview Capital Management, a US based family office and a director of the impact venture firm Mustard Seed. He is married with five children and a growing portfolio of grandchildren.
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Ann Wong, Business Strategy & Planning
Ann is working with Goldfinger to distil what we are working to achieve, and what we need to do to get there. Ann last led finance and business operations for NBCUniversal’s International Consumer Products division. Her work spanned many disciplines and many countries: she led teams that opened offices in more than ten countries, and spent almost two years in China herself. Ann is also a director of her local veg box co-operative, and a trustee of her local community centre.
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Steven Overman, Acting CMO
Steven has pioneered his career at the intersection of media communication and technology innovation for over two decades, and most recently was Chief Marketing Officer at Kodak. As a strategy and innovation consultant for startups and Fortune 100 companies, Steven has collaborated with the world’s leading creative studios and advertising agencies. He has imagined and evangelized concepts for sustainable hospitality and sustainability infrastructure. His book, The Conscience Economy, was launched at Goldfinger in 2015.
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Zoë Brady, Retail & Buying
Zoë is currently Senior Manager, Corporate Responsibility, for John Lewis. In this role she is responsible for setting the direction for Sustainability and Responsible Sourcing, as well as the governance and reporting of the company's activities from a CR perspective. Prior to this role, Zoë has over a decade's experience of Buying for John Lewis & Partners, in categories ranging from garden furniture to towels.
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Ahilan Sivaranjan, Sales & Pipeline
Ahilan has spent the past 14+ years working in the Cyber Security industry. Having a background working with both large players in the space as well as experience in the startup world. He is most recently working for Palo Alto Networks where he manages a set of Financial Services accounts. Ahilan's work with Goldfinger is to support the team in sales initiatives, how to manage a sales cycle, and best practices across pipeline generation and reporting.
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Angus Gibson, Business Development
Angus started his career in music and technology organising Juliana’s Discotheques and events around the UK, and later founding Gibson Music, a pioneering audio-visual company working for leading interior designers and architects. After joining the board of a 200-year-old building restoration company in 2004, Angus was introduced to the notion that using sustainable products in the building industry is a more responsible way forward.
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Nohelia Rambal, Marketing & Digital
Nohelia is a Marketing Consultant who has been driving marketing strategy and customer retention across different markets and industries since 2006, working for brands such as Expedia, Kaplan International, PhotoBox and MercadoLibre. She’s passionate about social and environmental causes and now focuses on working with companies that have an impact, while developing her own initiative to help build a better economy: The Do Gooders. She joined Goldfinger in 2019 to help bring a strategic approach to the marketing function.
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Isabel Serval, Brand and Copy Consultant
Isabel works with Goldfinger to develop their brand narrative: who we want to be and where we want to go as a social enterprise. She distilled a brand strategy and tone of voice and created copy for the website. She works as a copy, content design and brand strategy consultant with digital and creative agencies and tech companies on brands such as Wedgewood, Heathrow, NatWest, Nissan, gov.uk and others.
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Sayo Ayodele, Sustainable Business
Sayo is a Partner at Leaders' Quest, a social enterprise that helps leaders and organisations align profit with purpose. She is currently on secondment to the United Nations High Level Champions team for COP26, where she is working to drive climate action from different parts of society. Sayo is passionate about strengthening the links between business and society, and cares deeply about sustainability and equality. Having lived and worked on five continents, she considers herself a global citizen, and her experiences have fostered a love of international affairs, languages, and travel. In her spare time, she’s an avid reader, loves music and podcasts, and enjoys relaxing by running – especially on London’s Thames path. She loves being a 10 minute walk from Goldfinger as a W10 local and volunteers for their People's Kitchen.
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