My father, Hugh Dunford Wood, who has died aged 76, was an artist who painted landscapes and portraits, set up a successful fashion business hand-painting silk ties, and collaborated with brands such as Paul Smith, Yohji Yamamoto and Harrods. He also designed flatware, sculpture, jewellery, fabrics and even had a parallel career hand-printing colourful wallpaper for the Hamilton Weston historical wallpaper company.
Born in Watlington, Oxfordshire, to Angela (nee Elliot), a nurse and physiotherapist, and Colin Dunford Wood, an RAF pilot, Hugh went to Wellington college, a public school in Berkshire, and then studied at the Ruskin School of Art, Oxford, in the 1970s.
In 1976 he married Emma Stacey. Our family lived in the Cotswolds in a rambling old farm house near Chipping Norton. Hugh made a good living with his art, and was artist in residence at the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Globe Theatre in 1989, as well as with the Church of England in London. He exhibited widely in the UK and abroad; his work is held by the the Victoria & Albert Museum, in various Oxford colleges and many private collections.
In his later years, he loved to encourage others to develop their creative potential, having previously maintained that he was always too busy and selfish to bother. He changed his ways and for the last 15 years developed a series of workshops sharing specific craft skills such as wallpaper and textile printing, iPad art and sketchbook keeping. He got enormous pleasure from passing on these skills, and encouraging confidence in others, and was given the President’s Award for Endangered Crafts by the Heritage Crafts Fund in 2022.
Hugh was inspired by the natural world. He sketched, painted and drew in little cloth-bound books that he carried with him wherever he was, often gathering attention, crowds and new friends as he observed people with a pencil, pen and brush. Sketching fed his appetite and his imagination. He loved music, from Orthodox chanting to freestyle jazz, as well as poetry, novels and films – but mostly people, especially from younger generations who gave him energy and ideas.
In a recent interview with the printing website handprinted.co.uk, Hugh said: “Neither hide nor hoard your talents, but share them, and accrue to them by inquiry with other artists and makers. Celebrate life and remember that the world is full of hosts – there are just not enough guests. So travel, overland, with your sketchbook and not with a camera.” This outlook and attitude took him on many an adventure.
My parents divorced in 2000; in 2008 Hugh married Candida Blaker. He is survived by Candida, four children, Rollo, Pasco, Aquila and me, from his first marriage, his stepson, Daniel, 10 grandchildren, and his sister, Cynthia, and brother, James.
