Craftsmanship & the Workshop

“..it is only when you personally work with a material with your hands, that you come to understand its true nature, its characteristics, its attributes, and I think – very importantly – its potential.”
Jonathan Ive

Craft + Art + Technology + Nature

As an advocate of the circular economy, our workshop is in fact a recycled mobile doctor’s surgery!  It was in a poor state of repair when it arrived, but with a little hard work we rebuilt it into a fantastic humidity controlled workshop space.

Wood being a hydroscopic material is always moving in service to balance with its environment. For example if you put a piece of furniture outside in the rain the doors and drawers will swell up and stop working. Equally the same piece exposed to a hot summer’s day will distort and crack. The average house has a moisture content of between 40%-55%, we therefore built our workshop to match this ensuring our furniture stays balanced when it arrives at its new home.

Designing and building a piece of furniture with wood requires skill and a deep understanding of the properties and idiosyncrasies of the different Scottish timbers and how they react to different environments. Over the past 30 years we have been building on that knowledge through dedicated hard work and a genuine interest in what we do.

An engineering background has in fact contributed greatly to the designs we have brought to life through our years in business. The curved supports of a table framework or chair, the structural details of a mortice and tennoned door, the arched brace of a post and beam frame or a laminated solid wood worktop. These all have their origin in engineering at some level, add to this an understanding of aesthetic design and an eye for the beauty of the natural grain of the timber and you have a winning combination.

In short a Dovetail Kitchen, piece of furniture or post and beam frame is created with our head our hands and our heart. Everything that leaves our workshop is designed and built to last the test of time and children, becoming a family heirloom and an antique of the future.