In 2015, I left a job in a busy solicitors office in the centre of Manchester and, some might call it 'my midlife crisis', other's might call it 'my moment of clarity' decided I was going to make furniture from reclaimed wood.
Driven by the idea of saving wood from landfill and giving life back to something that had been discarded or rejected, or as I later realised I was putting the 'soul back'. Coming through a turbulent divorce, my work initially was partly therapy and partly to find where I wanted to be in the World again.
My work started by picking up pallet wood, it's free, often found dumped in alleyways and generally rejected and broken, from here I found people heard about what I was doing and began bringing old furniture, doors, tools, all kinds of things...... one couple even brought a windsurf board and wetsuits!
Through a lot of experimentation, mistakes, triumphs, tears and sweat, I started getting customers, real ones, not family or friends trying to help me out. But actually people I didn't know......wow! And the work grew, but also the stories grew.
One particular story that made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.... A lady contacted me by telephone. She told me that her 86 year old mum had just died and that she wanted to do something with her bed. All five siblings had been born in the bed, her mum had died in the bed and she felt such a sentimental connection to the bed that she wanted to keep it in some form.
I went to see her, collected the headboard and under the strict instructions that she wanted some kind of mirror or something she could keep, but did not want to take part in the design, moreover she wanted it to be a surprise.
The headboard was midcentury, and made from plywood with a veneer on top, it was quite chipped with tiny fingernails dug into the back, I could imagine little children bouncing on the bed holding onto it for support. The more I worked with it, the more I could imagine it's previous life.
I decided that the best use would be to make it into a mirror and the design process began with the frame, which I cut into strips to begin the process of looking at how the piece would fit together and I measured the mirror size to fit into the frame.
I decided to check out the local charity shop and as soon as I walked in noticed a mirror that I knew was the perfect size. I phoned my customer and told her, she agreed it was a good idea rather than buying completely new. She said for me to leave it by the counter and she would go in and pay for it, then drop it off to me.
Two hours later my customer came to me in tears......the mirror I had randomly chosen had been one from her mum's house that she had given to the charity shop weeks earlier. She couldn't believe it, she was thrilled.
I finished the mirror, delivered it to her and had etched (at my customer's request) the wording, "Looking at me and thinking of you". I wrapped the mirror and put a big red bow around it, my customer was completely overwhelmed and cried many happy tears.
I may look like I've been rolling around in sawdust and my perfume is often Eau de Oak. But in some small way, I am making my tiny corner of the World a better place, keeping memories alive, breathing life into old rejected items, that would have ended up in landfill or been burnt, and generally making a blooming big pile of sawdust!
More info: soul-furniture.co.uk
Early sawdust days, where it all started.
I rented an old unit in the most ramshackle industrial estate, containing lots of dodgy characters and now me!
The headboard from the bed 5 siblings were born in.
Cutting the headboard into strips and redesigning the headboard.
Sanding and filling.
A slightly blurred photo of the finished mirror, that once was a headboard.
Sparks fly when you cut metal
Before! A very 'vanilla' bathroom vanity (before makeover)
After! A finished funky 'on trend' industrial style vanity, new sink to be added.
A handmade garden bar being personalised with it's logo.
