A Dream Realized.

Seven years in the making.

Renovation on the shop front.

I stare at a wall inside a shop that has been vacant and derelict for more than thirty years a small space around 200sf a boarded up window and plaster falling off the walls and in this moment I seize the day in my realization that this moment has been seven years in the making.

It may seem strange to some to leave your dream shop in California to move back to the UK to work in a workshop that was the same size as your office but there is more to this space and more to the story.

In 2017 I was living the dream in California, newly married and excited for all of life’s opportunities. I was working in a cabinet and furniture shop honing my skills and really enjoying the creative and artistic process.

My wife and I had a strong ambition to one day move back to the UK where I was brought up and to one day raise a family of our own and enjoy life in the English country side. But we had ambitions we wanted to achieve first, life goals we wanted to meet.

Roll on 2020 and those goals and ambitions were complete through many years of trial and error hardships and highs we had accomplished our dreams. My wife became a full time credentialed teacher working in the school she had always wanted and I became a full time self employed furniture maker having the pleasure of working with some of the most prestigious clients as well as being published in some amazing magazines.

We lived in Costa Mesa CA in a beautiful house with enough garden to keep chickens, a vegetable patch and an eight foot long table for entertaining. My workshop was exactly a mile away making cycling to work a great commute. It was a 1050sf space nestled in an industrial estate surrounded by cabinet makers and surfboard shapers and a twenty minuet commute to the beach what more could you ask for?

In 2020 amongst all the chaos we welcomed home our first child a baby girl. Since then life moved pretty fast but I savored every moment of it knowing soon we would be on our way to live a completely different life in the Uk.

Every year my wife and I would visit the Uk to see family and friends and the pull to move home became stronger for us both. One of the reasons for me was this space I am standing in. This shop front is part of a larger workshop space which belonged to my Grandad which is still family owned.

My Grandad was a man of many talents one of which was carpentry but his business was in the car body repair industry of which my Dad followed and continued to run the business until his recent retirement. Over seventy years combined spent in this workshop repairing and spraying cars. These men taught me the attention to detail and focus it requires to become a true craftsman.

It is my dream now to continue working in this space designing and making fine furniture continuing on the legacy of craftsmanship in this workshop. So as I begin this journey in the small shop front I hope you will follow along and be inspired by the craftsmanship and the ability to dream.

Cheers.