At Another Country, we believe good design should do good too — for the people who make it, the places it comes from, and the communities it supports.
If you had the chance to read our previous posts, in 2025 we took a majority share in Goldfinger Design, coming together to build one of the UK’s most sustainably-driven design studios. By combining ethical furniture production, thoughtful design, and meaningful social impact, we’re shaping a more responsible future for our industry.
We also became custodians of the Goldfinger Academy. At the core of the Academy lies the Future Makers programme, a longstanding Goldfinger community-led initiative designed to support and inspire the next generation of makers. Created for young people aged 16–25, Future Makers equips participants with practical woodworking and employability skills, building confidence and opening clear pathways into the creative and built-environment sectors. The programme combines hands-on training with mentoring, career guidance, and paid or unpaid work experience.
In 2025, 26 young people took part in the Future Makers traineeship, receiving 689 hours of free training and employability support. We’re proud to share that 100% of 2025 trainees have since progressed to opportunities into further education, training or employment, and we soon hope to be able to announce a new element to this programme in collaboration with Woodland Heritage, one of Another Country’s charity partners.
This year, alongside Future Makers’ two annual traineeships, we’re enhancing the Academy programme by integrating Another Country’s longstanding nature-based initiatives into the curriculum. This includes plans for field trips that introduce participants to rewilding and nature-based solutions, helping the trainees engage with the twin crises of biodiversity loss and climate change and create pathways into nature-based jobs.
Overall, the Academy programme focuses on supporting young people facing barriers to employment, including those from low-income backgrounds and those not in education, employment or training — opening doors that may not otherwise be accessible. The Academy represents what’s possible when community, craft and industry come together.
If interested, you can work us in many different ways. We’re looking to start meaningful conversations with potential partners and sponsors, as well as creating apprenticeship pathways, mentoring and job shadowing opportunities. For larger clients we can also help you meet your ESG initiatives.
We hope you’ll join us in supporting this programme — helping to open doors, nurture talent and shape a more responsible future for design.
Thank you
