About us

  From here, having discovered machining capabilities, trade experience was gained as a builders carpenter, joiner, and cabinetmaker. Further tuition was gained from the John Makepeace school for Craftsmen in Wood.

  By the age of 23 he headed into London from the Provinces with a bag of tools on the tank of a motorbike. After a year of shopfitting and builders carpentry jobs our founder's first workshop was born in W. London.

  Working night and day(literally) our founder undertook his own contracts in shopfitting, joinery and cabinetmaking all at the pace of a race horse.

  By the age of 27-28, He opened his first retail shop almost next door to Harrods on Brompton Road. This was achieved on the strength of a single Saville Row shop fit contract and his own money...no other money was gifted nor borrowed.

  The shop was pivotal in gaining access to clientele (see client list near the footer on home page) who properly appreciated the highest quality of workmanship. Our founder was in the right place with the right audience and was right for that audience since the quest for excellence in craftsmanship had long been his motivation for woodworking. To reach for one's best whilst minimising compromise is a central aspect of good practice, reputation and maximising longevity of product.  

  @13 more years of varied woodworking practice in London led to the latest 2800 sq ft workshop being approved for the owners to demolish and re-develop. At the time, there were few other affordable leasehold properties available, so the solution was to take a huge plunge and buy his own property...a small farm in Devon. Two articulated lorries worth of machinery and materials were installed in a 2400sqft cow shed....and we haven't looked back much since then(21 yrs ago). At the farm, a brief distraction from woodworking was indulged in the development of a small tree nursery....well it's good to balance the books before one gets to the Pearly gates. It can at least be said that as much timber has been grown as has been used!

  In recognition of his work, in 2016 our founder was invited and inaugurated as a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Furniture Makers in the City of London

  The journey is not over yet, and is now in a new phase of releasing a vast retail collection of woodworking and materials curated over almost 40yrs alongside new 2020's furniture, with new and old works of art in wood, and new and antique micro mosaics with as small as 0.6mmx0.6mm tesserae. We expect to release brand new made in Devon micro mosaics in wood as early as possible in 2026. We are still approachable for all manner of commissions which you can see from the various web shop departments.

  Please note existing quality details in our shop listing descriptions. If an item is known to fall short of the Master Craftsman of Wood higher standard, it may be accompanied by our sister brand logo of "Craftsmen of Wood". 

  All items will have a quality description, and in the case of unrestored antiques awaiting restoration or improvement the description may include 'priced as found'.  

   There are normally options for further restoration or customisation for most 'in stock' pieces offered. Email us to discuss these further. It's good to talk, we are here to help.

  Our master craftsman has been an adventurous exponent of radial harlequin, micro mosaic(syn. Tunbridge ware and Sorrento ware) and Louis cubes/isometric cubes (syn. tumbling blocks) parquetry for over 35 yrs.

His imaginative re-engineering of these parquetry techniques makes a marked difference from other modern day advocates/revivalists, the original Tunbridge/Sorrento ware makers and parquetarians of the16th and 17th century(when radial harlequin and Louis cube gained popularity in France, respectively), with the following traits:

1. Many of his designs tend to push the limitations of historical work in the same vein..in quality, colour, form and concept. We believe, some are the first of their kind eg. radial Louis cube(being worked on now) and his signature name plate in micro mosaic curvy script. If we are wrong about that, we certainly can't see these types of work in commercial production anywhere. His work tends to be executed with more meticulous craftsmanship. Zero tolerance laying/abutting of veneer/tesserae is the norm. No filler paste/wax is used at all in his work.

2. No pearl glue is used as it was with Tunbridge ware and earlier veneering. Pearl glue, despite having a few good attributes for other techniques in woodworking, has a poor longevity of adhesion in service. It is prone to loosing adhesion with moisture and heat and time, thus causing veneers/tesserae to lift /become detached. We generally, only use water based resin glue that has huge adhesion integrity, is water proof and unaffected by heat and uv light.

3. Substrates we use are rarely solid timber(unless of very thin section size or very stable species). Solid timber is prone to more movement than plywood or mdf. Solid timber substrates for veneering of any kind are prone to much more movement/warpage/splitting, all of which will eventually affect the quality in service of the finished veneering.

4. French polish is rarely used, and mostly reserved for antique restoration where colour has already been lost or where touch up/part polishing is all that's required. French polish is an inferior product to the modern day water proof pu acrylic lacquers with ultra violet light inhibitors and prevention from oxidisation. Both these traits remove the fresh cut naturally vibrant depth of colour of timber and veneer, which can rarely be brought back...which is why most wooden antiques look tired and faded or darkened(some timber colours darken over time, some become faded or 'bleached'). Our lacquers are intended to preserve colours for hundreds of years. French polish can't do that and is a very soft, non-durable and not scratch resistant finish.

Our ethos on materials used(as above) applies to all our woodworking

In short, we believe people who stubbornly advocate antiquated materials are in effect selling you an inferior product. With veneer gluing and finish polish, there is no merit in quaint nostalgia of 'time honoured' yet inferior materials...contrary to what many box makers, restorers, antique dealers and alleged 'experts' will sell you a narrative of.

We believe in making and selling the best that is practically achievable

  

  Custom/bespoke woodworking, indeed any woodworking at the meticulous and highbrow end of the spectrum, is a very time consuming process with little room for error. Our rates have to be sustainable for us but are less than most car mechanics, and less than most commercial joinery workshops we know of. We are helped by the absence of leaseholder rent/rates with service charges and landlords insurance, etc, as we own our property outright.