in the Environment ...

We are passionate in our belief that creating a balance with nature involves both giving and taking, and constantly strive to make our business as ecologically friendly as a possible.

... creating a balance with nature …..

That’s why all the wood used in our furniture and kitchens, is either wind blown, aged, diseased or woodland managed.

Flourishing woodlands and healthy trees, are a result of good woodland management. Trees die when they reach the end of their natural life cycle, either rotting away and becoming compost for plants and trees around them, or are taken down when they have lost the strength in their roots and are a danger to surrounding trees or buildings. Disease is all part of nature’s complexity rather than the untimely or unfair demise of tree. Certain species, notably beech, tend to fall in high winds.

Once we have the trees in our workshop, every part of the yield is used. This not only reduces waste, but also allows us to incorporate nature’s design, with outside cuts used for their sculptural shape, and inner slabs for their naturally shaped outer edges. After we have used off-cuts for our smaller pieces, such as candle holders, the sawdust and shavings heat our workshop. We don’t use gas or electricity to heat our buildings.

We take advantage of the fact that many of our clients are in the catering trade, by turning their waste vegetable oil to bio-diesel to run our three work vehicles. This produces 80% less omissions to the atmosphere, while disposing of a waste product. The bi-product from our production is glycerol, which is completely biodegradable and used by local farmers to compost their manure and produce methane, which in turn is then used to heat their buildings.

All about Hodgy
When it came to choosing between art and woodwork, I opted for an apprenticeship with the outstanding cabinet makers, Piers Kellewell. It was there that highly skilled craftsmen taught me the true and perfect way to work with wood.

Beyond the actual craft, I increasingly found myself drawn to problem solving and communicating with customers, which inevitably led to self-employment. This provided me with the thrilling experience of working out what a customer wants, then visualising and drawing it, followed by the satisfaction derived from the customer having the confidence to commission the work.

Quality is my passion, and an insistance on excellence often takes precedence over profit. Since taking on my first apprentice when I established the company in 1986, a new apprentice annually embarks on their three-year training. Every year, we proudly send off a third-year apprentice to become tradesman.

From 1986 to 1991, we exclusively designed and produced exceptionally high quality furniture, shop/bar/restaurant fittings, with all designs completely tailored to the customers’ requirements. With each design, I felt an incredible urge to produce something even better, wanting the relevant designs and production to be of the highest standard.

However it was all to change when I took a sabbatical, travelling to Australia and South East Asia, where I lived with a wood carving family. I saw how they transformed their visions into carvings by following the natural pattern of the wood, which more often than not, had presented them with their original vision. Along with experiencing how wood was used practically in a very natural form, I sub-consciously realised what was required to relieve my dissastisfaction with designing solely to commission.

In 1994, I re-established the business, quickly returning to working at break-neck speed alongside apprentices and fellow tradesmen, only this time I had something more to offer. I was grateful that customer confidence in my reputation, gave me the creative freedom to experiment with Scottish wood, discovering that it incorporated all the natural visual messages.

From 1994 to 2008 we have been producing my designs, adapting them to suit the job’s practical requirements.

In 2007, I set about selecting the favourites, and started to realise my all-time dream. This was to display and sell a unique collection of pieces, all completely different from one other through nature’s fingerprint, but made to the same design perfected over the years. It gives customers the freedom to choose something that simply catches their imagination, as an alternative to commissioning a bespoke piece.

To this day, I enjoy nothing more than working on a challenging bespoke commission, where I am asked to design and produce something that I have not tackled before. From a personal, professional and creative point of view, this is the food of life.