Steve Lamont was born in Maryland USA and went to school in California, where he studied English at Berkeley, San Francisco. He was a pilot in Vietnam and when he left the USAF he flew private jets for AT&T. At the age of 40, he decided to turn what had been a hobby into a career –furniture making.
After studying the craft part-time, he saw an advertisement in the US magazine Fine Woodworking for a course in Devon run by Christopher Faulkner, a leading teacher in traditional furniture making.
Steve Lamont by the Remembrance Book stand he made for All Saints Church
When the course was complete, Steve returned to the US for ten years, working in Lewisberg, Pennsylvania. He then returned to England to become a pupil at the fabled Barnsley Workshop in Steep. It was then that Karin Antonini – daughter of founder Edward Barnsley - spotted an advertisement which Clare Bartlett had taken in the Lady Magazine, offering to let the cottage at the Court House. Steve moved in. The pupillage lasted 6 months, but after 2 more years in the USA, Steve returned to the Barnsley Workshop as a craftsman and teacher. Fortunately, the cottage in East Meon was once more available and Steve moved back in.
