Meet the Maker: Hardwood Gifts

Tell us what you do.
We make high-quality wooden gifts using carefully-selected hardwood timber. All products can be inlaid or engraved with initials or a personal message, making them ideal for special occasions such as weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, retirements and corporate events.

What’s your background?
I was brought up in Brampton in Cumbria. My father was the local doctor but he also had a passionate interest in woodwork and ran a small cabinet making business during the 1980s, employing an old school, highly-skilled cabinet maker called Bill McKie. I learnt a lot about wood and woodworking techniques from Bill and my dad.    

Where do you find inspiration?
I’m constantly on the lookout for new product ideas. For example, I recently noticed a lovely old coat rail with chunky square pegs at the Lord Crewe Arms in Blanchland. I photographed it and made some notes, and will come up with my own version in due course.          

Where do you source your materials?
Materials come from far and wide. We have a good stock of old broken furniture which is a magnificent source of top-quality walnut, rosewood, oak and mahogany. We also have good stocks of local yew, cherry and ash. For other woods we use several excellent local suppliers including Hexham Hardwoods and G&S Timber in Cumbria.

We planted 10,000 mixed hardwood trees at Haytongate in 2013. Creating a new wood and seeing the trees battling the elements, surviving, thriving and slowly but surely expanding has been very rewarding. It’s unlikely we will use wood from the planting in the near future, however it seems right to be creating new wood that more than replaces the wood that we are using.