At home with Q&A: Nicholas Radford

Describe your home and its style: It's a 17th century former village rectory with later additions built in local Wensleydale dressed stone. The traditional carriage turning circle still provides an easy route to the front of the house surrounded as it is by massive old yew hedges, which take weeks to clip each year. It provides a country house style backdrop to my collection of contemporary pieces, most of which have been accumulated during my days working in the furniture business.

What is on your interiors wish list? A workshop fully equipped with every woodworking tool and machine ever invented so I could while away happy hours making and repairing things. When I was at High Wycombe College back in the late 1970s, I made a full set of eight Arts and Crafts inspired dining chairs which we still use today.

Which household item could you not live without? A corkscrew. I still prefer a good wine with a cork, despite what I'm told about the veracity of screw tops.

Which designers do you most admire? I've always admired Carr of York who designed the house I grew up in. I also greatly admire the British Modernist architect-designers, John and Sylvia Reid.

The Reids' S-Range, which they designed for Stag in 1960, and which we are re-issuing in collaboration with the original designer, Sylvia Reid − who is now in her 90s − and her son Dominic, was so ahead of its time it has become a highly collectible modern classic.

What is your favourite building? I am a big fan of traditional materials used in a contemporary way and Sydney Opera House is a wonderful example of this. I am also very excited to see what's been achieved

within the Queen Elizabeth Hall and Purcell Room at the South Bank Centre, where they've returned the brutalist structure to its original design and former glory.

Is there anything exciting you at the minute in terms of design? I love the mid-century revival. The furnishings of this era were notably devoid of decoration which made their shape and form the focal point of the designs – the simplicity of form directing the spotlight to their craft and precision.

What and where is your ideal home? It would be a large family house with lots of space to entertain and host friends in coastal Kenya. I love sailing and I would spend a lot of time out with the local Swahili fishermen in their traditional dhows lining for tuna and king fish. My ambition is of course to be able to spend a lot more time in that part of the world.

Who would you most like to invite for dinner? My late godfather Ronnie, a leading amateur golfer and Dominic Reid, with whom I am now collaborating for the re-issue and re-launch of his parent's furniture designs. Our two families have known each other since the 1950s when my father, who was then md of Stag Furniture, engaged the Reids to bring a modernist ethos to the company's designs. Also a qualified architect, Dominic has gone onto to carve out his own career as a major events organiser, with the Invictus Games and Lord Mayor's Parade. To relax over dinner and have a proper catch up would be an absolute treat.