Laburnum Bug Hotel
Fireside Woodcraft
About Me
My name is Matt, I am a British craftsman from Essex. I make handmade wooden objects using traditional green woodworking techniques. I started out as a conservation volunteer where I began experimenting with woodcraft. I took an interest in green woodworking while studying for my degree in wildlife conservation. Since then I have worked as both an Arborist and Forest School Leader.
These experiences have amalgamated into an environmental philosophy in which I hope to advocate the value of woodland for wildlife, craft and education. For me woodlands are immensely powerful places that allow us to tap into our primal self, allowing us to appreciate the diversity of our ecosystem and our place within it. Through Fireside Woodcraft I hope to capture the essence of the woods in my creations and share my passion with others along the way.
Vision
Fireside Woodcraft aims to connect people with nature through craft. Producing high quality, ecologically sustainable products that showcase the natural beauty of wood. Through social media, customers will be able to experience every step of the process from the living tree to finished creation. By exploring the life cycle of the material and the process of production customers will have a deeper relationship with both the product and the natural world. With this transparency customers can be assured their purchases tread lightly on the planet and stem from a philosophy that cares for other species on earth.
Resources
The UK's woodlands are a sacred asset not only to wildlife but people too. The need to protect our existing woodlands and increase the nations tree cover has never been greater and therefore it is every creator's responsibility to source timber from a sustainable source.
Many woodlands are under managed due to a lack in demand for small irregular lengths produced in native diverse woodland. When these woodlands are thinned or felled the product is often processed for fire wood. Fireside Woodcraft specialises in taking waste product from the wood fuel industry (the logs that do not conform to modern firewood processors) and turning them into usable wood for craft.
Process
Recognising that our brains thrive on the complexity of nature, I aim to preserve the natural form of the materials I work with. Despite the endless array of woodworking machinery there is still no substitute to a set of basic hand tools when working with natural forms. My workshop is comprised of two devices, a shave horse and a pole lathe, these ancient wood working devices have been used for thousands of years and each complement a specific set of traditional tools. This approach allows me to take 'green' freshly cut logs and process them without the need for saw mills and kilns.
My commitment to hand tool woodworking may seem like a throwback to the past, however in an age of mass produced goods there is a great yearning for products that hold a sense of individuality and character that cannot be imitated by machine.
Sustainability
At the core of the business is a drive to create high quality products with the smallest ecological impact. Exclusively using wood from sustainable sources, it is then processed and crafted using hand tools and human energy. All products are finished with natural oil meaning, if kept indoors, they will not release toxins into the air and if left outdoors they will not leach chemicals into the wider environment. At every opportunity we reuse our waste, off cuts are used for heating and wood shavings are both composted and used in packaging instead of bubble wrap.
