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Kia Ora
Aotearoa!
In 2014 I started a small family woodworking business with no training, very little tools, but a passion to succeed. So 'Put Kettle On' sit back, and enjoy the story.
Let's wind the clock back to England 1993, the year I left school & started art college. It was at art college I took a dyslexia test which gave me answers to a lot of questions. I was never a good speller, never read a book in my life & found it very hard speaking to an audience. One thing I was very good at was Art & Design & fixing things. At Art College I specialised in 3D Design, Graphics & Photography. It was photography which caught my attention, it was new to me and I loved using my fully manual Pentax K1000 & developing/printing the images in the darkroom. Then the world went mad and digital was all the rage.
It's now the year 2000, the Y2K bug did not happen and life carried on. Digital cameras were really starting to take off so I decided to cash in on this and instead of using them I decided to sell them. I continued to take photos, mostly landscapes around the Yorkshire Dale's, but there was an urge to find the best landscapes in the world. There was no better place to start than on the other side of the world in New Zealand. Money was saved, work visas allocated & tickets purchased, I was on my way to New Zealand the land of the long white cloud. My first year in NZ was probably one of the best, but was also the worst with the passing of my fiancé. I was determined not to let this stop me from enjoying this amazing country even though the next couple of years were hard.
We are now approaching the end of the naughty's and now in my thirties I found myself thinking, where do I go from here? Then along came a very smart, beautiful kiwi chick who transformed my life. The fun continued and in 2011 we purchased a house in Stokes Valley, Lower Hutt. This house ticked all the boxes for me, garden, off street parking (you will understand if you have ever been to the North of England), workshop/art studio and house with room to swing a cat. YouTube became my tutor and work started on the house.
When our first son arrived work had moved from the house to the workshop, but I was determined to continue what I had started. The very first thing I made was a Cat Scratching post which Mr Patch still uses today. Sales were good and I still sell a very much improved version to this day. Let's have another child? Was the question asked and in 2016 our second son was born, which meant we needed the cot and a bed for our eldest. After weeks of searching for the right bed I decided to make one myself. The only tools I had were a drill and a circular saw, but the challenge was set and the design process started. The outcome was a solid pine bed with 6 drawers & bookcase. By this time the Valley Craftsman Facebook page was in full swing bringing in cat related work, little did I know that was all about to change. The bed made the biggest impact, within 6 months I was making another version of the bed which was tweaked by the customer to add a pull out train table.
Let's fast forward to 2020. The world is in lockdown, everyone had a fascination with toilet roll & the Valley Craftsman had the one thing every young family needed. The Kitchen Helper/Learning Tower which was invented in the UK in 1992. My version is available in two heights, has removable safety rails & adjustable platforms. This success prompted me to build a website. Thinkforward was chosen to help with the website build, it was an easy choice as they were next door to my favorite coffee shop. After many cups of coffee & muffins my online store was born. Whilst all of this was happening I was still perfecting my trade, meeting & working with new people like Mike the builder from Nelson, boat builder Aaron Bilham & continuing to watch endless woodworking videos on social media. Over the years I have always been looking for better quality & new products to build my furniture. I am proud to say where possible my materials are purchased from NZ companies and in some cases made right here in Aotearoa. My goal when starting my business adventure was to make quality furniture which is durable, stable and kind to the environment.