A biography for David Linleyhasn’t been written yet.
“I've seen that, over the centuries, India has still got its passion and its soul. Wherever you go, people have such inner strength and beauty.”
“Design is important. I spend much of my working life as a designer. But how can you design for materials if you don't know what they can do? The feel of them, the possibilities, the capabilities? These are things you learn only by working with materials all the time. Frankly, a university degree is not much help in that.”
“My parents are very supportive of my work. It's my father who encourages me to keep going and my mother she's very proud. She's keen that I do something creative rather than just printing money in some city bank, you know which I couldn't have done, anyway.”
“I'm not technically royal.”
“When I left Parnham aged 18, I could easily have ended up twiddling my thumbs in a workshop all week. But I lucked out and found an agent who immediately got me work and before long there was enough demand for my furniture to start a shop.”
“The workshop to me always means great atmosphere, working, smell of wood, dust and, at the end of the day, you've created something.”
“We are no longer teaching young people to make things that are beautiful and of very high quality. We are not giving them the chance to learn how to create artefacts to a high standard of design and workmanship.”
“I've lived all over London, as I like moving from place to place.”
“My father's rooms, as a child, were a very exciting place to be. Not only because of the beautiful models who were coming to be photographed for Vogue or The Sunday Times but also because of the very avant-garde furniture that he had made. He made designs for the investiture of the Prince of Wales in 1969 at Caernarfon Castle.”
“For the novice furniture collector, buying antiques can seem a rather daunting prospect. Nobody wants to feel that they may not make a wise choice and that ultimately they could be throwing their money away. The main thing is that you should always buy something first and foremost because you like it.”
“The school I attended, Bedales, was fortunate to have been built by a leading light from the Arts and Crafts Movement in the 1890s. It contained a beautiful library, made originally of green oak and constructed with the help of the children.”
“I don't use my title.”
“Good design is probably something that has been thoroughly thought through to a point of resolution.”
“It's extraordinary how a physical disability makes people think that somebody is frail.”
“Personally, I find the world of memorabilia fascinating: how people get so focused on one genre, music, or person.”
“Never bring an umbrella to the country - wear a tweed cap.”
“Life, work, money - everything is such a battle. It's just nice to sit down at home, look at one thing, and think, 'Hmmm. A man made that.'”
“Ideally you should try to buy upholstered items that have retained their original fillings of horsehair, wool or down, because they provide a much more satisfying shape than when they have been replaced with foam rubber or other modern materials.”
“I am not really a football man but I have always supported Chelsea because we lived there. We have been through the lows.”
“Bedales was perfect for my sister and me. Very open. Very few rules. No uniforms. Co-educational. And very little of 'You have to do this like this.' You very much controlled your education.”