Four people, one bench, eighteen years.
The workshop has never had more than four people at once. That has cost us jobs we wanted, and it is the reason the ones we take still look right a decade later.
We started in a rented garage with one machine.
In 2008 two of us shared a table saw and a phone number. The first commission was a bookshelf for a neighbour who paid in advance because we could not afford the timber.
The garage became a unit, the unit became a yard, and the phone number stayed the same. We still answer it ourselves, and it is still the fastest way to reach anyone here.
Nothing in the workshop is automated beyond the machines that break down boards. Every joint that shows is cut by hand, because that is the part you will be looking at in twenty years.
Everyone who will touch your piece
There is no separate sales desk. The person who quotes your commission is one of the people who builds it.
Founder, cabinetmaker
Trained in restoration before the workshop opened. Draws every commission full size before a board is cut.
Founder, finisher
Chooses every board at the mill and keeps the drying room log that goes back to the first year.
Cabinetmaker
Joined in 2016 from a chair shop. Everything curved in the catalogue passes through her hands.
Apprentice
Third year of a four-year apprenticeship. Builds the stacking stools start to finish.
How the workshop grew, slowly
A rented garage and one table saw
Two founders, one shared machine, and a bookshelf for a neighbour who paid up front.
First trade customer
A small hotel ordered nine identical desks. We learned that we do not enjoy making nine of anything.
The move to the yard
Twice the floor and a proper drying room. The third cabinetmaker joined the same month.
We stopped taking fitted work
Kitchens paid well and left no time for the pieces we wanted to be known for. We gave that work away.
Six commissions a season
A fixed number, published openly, so nobody is told a date we cannot keep.
Three things we will not trade away
Honest timber
Solid boards, named species, no veneer over chipboard. If a piece needs a man-made panel to work, we say so in the quote.
Repairable finishes
Oil and wax, never a sprayed lacquer. A ring left by a glass should be something you fix in an evening, not a reason to replace the top.
Dates we can keep
We would rather turn work away in March than apologise in October. The season's slots go up on this page and come down when they are gone.
Where the pieces are made
Visitors are welcome on Saturdays. Call first — the machines are loud and we may not hear the door.
Come and see a piece before you order one
There are usually two or three finished commissions in the yard waiting for delivery. You are welcome to sit on them.