Our Story

We are a boutique British metal design company based in Surrey.  Specialising in working with British designers to make and sell stylish & contemporary multifunctional products that showcase metal’s wonderful qualities.

Our story so far

Hi there! We are Chris and Mary the founders of AnthologyFive. The business was born out of a slow burn of conversations and ideas we had around pursuing a creative venture that could use the exceptional talent, experience and craftsmanship of Chris’ existing precision engineering company.

Our focus is on offering unique and stylish, contemporary products that people will enjoy living with and using. We are excited to be showcasing metal’s qualities, versatility and beauty.

It is our aim to promote British design and craftsmanship talent by working with individual designers to continually produce distinctive pieces that people will enjoy using and displaying in their homes. The exceptional quality of each piece is achieved in our workshop by the use of specialist machinery and tools, in combination with traditional hand skills.

The name AnthologyFive comes from our family brainstorming sessions! Anthology meaning “collection” and five being a number that has followed Mary throughout her life; highlighted by the five gorgeous children that make up our family.

Currently featured on:

Mary Norval in London, Surrey, UK on Houzz

Mary Norval

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Originally from sunny Australia, Mary has a background in small business, photography and a passion for beautifully designed and crafted objects. Her favourite items combine beauty and functionality – things that are striking and interesting to look at, tactile and serve a purpose as well!

Dislikes: rudeness and litter

Loves: Walking bare foot, Fresh air and family. Oh and our 2 dogs – Tess & Max!

Quiet Obsession: Front doors – the bigger and older the better! Am always stopping when we travel to photograph doors!

Chris

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Born and bred in South Africa, Chris is an Accountant by training who is a frustrated engineer! He has worked for large corporates in countries ranging from South Africa to Russia. Working with people and building teams is something that continues to motivate and reward him.

Loves: Bit of a coffee snob!

Favourite meal: steak

Titbit: Its always tricky when South Africa play Australia in the rugby in our house!!

Ceri

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Ceri is a multi disciplined product designer based in London. He is particularly focused on his designs being simple, elegant and inspiring a feeling of value to their owners.

The element of craftsmanship evident in his designs is in part drawn from a family heritage in producing fine craft products. Ceri rarely creates anything for mass production, instead preferring to focus his work on small limited edition runs.

Loves: nature, the outdoors, cooking traditional and regional dishes

Secret talent: great at making cheese!

Interesting fact: plays rugby union for Blackheath RFC in his spare time

Learning at the moment: Welsh and Irish history

Lara

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Lara is an emerging designer who graduated from Kingston University’s Product and Furniture Design (BA) in 2017.  She is currently living in Holland and completing a masters in Design Writing and Curating at the Design Academy Eindhoven.  Lara enjoys designing functional items that maintain playful and sculptural elements.