Edge Forum

How did you get into that?

 Quite an unusual route.  My husband actually trained to be an actor and did some acting.  When he wasn’t working he did some work with his step father, restoring antique furniture.  He was very good with his hands, so he learnt that way.  When we met which was now 18 years ago, I was working in sales, managing a shop at the time.  He was doing a lot of woodwork and making kitchens for somebody else.  He had a lot of talent, so I thought ‘we could do this on our own’.  From that we found an old premises, worked hard to get planning permission – we met with the Mayor, and so on.  We sold everything we owned bikes, mopeds, cars and started up buying second hand tools and started from there literally in two little rooms.

 It sounds like education wasn’t a big influence?

 Well out of the two of us, Nat has a degree, that was in TV and media and that led on to the acting, so really it’s nothing to do with this, but I think there are skills he has within it, like now a lot of his work is designing communicating with people, writing letters it’s been a long journey, my background is more the sales stuff and I do our marketing, but I didn’t have a degree.  So we came from both sides and between us it worked very well.

 What was your education like?

 I left in the 5^th year with not nearly enough ‘O’ Levels.  Nat left for a year to work in a building business, but he didn’t like that, and is much more academically minded, so he went back and did two ‘A’ levels and then a degree.  I went to Art college and did a course in Health and Beauty therapy.  When I finished at 18, my mum and step dad moved to France, and I wasn’t invited so I had to go and get a job.  So I worked throughout and Nat studied.

S o the business now is successful?

 Yes, it is successful.  We were hit by the beginning of the recession because people didn’t want to spend money and our kitchens are top end and bespoke, handmade and beautifully built.  But now as well as the two of us we employ people and have sub contractors.

 What do you think success is?

 I think believing in what you do.  Finding something that you really believe in and going for it, really sticking with it.  And having that drive within yourself.  Before working for ourselves initially we were out partying, seeing friends and having a good time, but once we started on our own we had that drive to make sure that we got up at 7am and get to work until midnight.  We did everything ourselves.  Having that drive and thinking we can really succeed with this.

 Are there any challenges that you have faced?

 Yes, when we had children, because obviously I had to take a back seat for seven years because I didn’t want anyone else to look after the children.  Staff is very hard, finding the right people.  We’ve been very lucky.

 Did you get much support along the way?

 Family, yes in the way of advice, financially no. Friends not really, I think because it was very much our business, so we’d talk things through between us.  So I think the one thing we’ve learnt is that you learn to rely on yourself more.

 What drove you?

 I think we had a vision that we could work for ourselves and make beautiful things that it would be nice for people to have and they are quite creative but at the same time you’ve also got to make a living.  We believed in ourselves that we could do this.

 Do you have a role model?

 I grew up with a step father who only ever worked for himself and wasn’t educated.  Nat’s father had his own business restoring barns and his sister had her own business, a diving company.  So we come from people who themselves have had their own businesses.  Initially Nat got a grant, but out of 50 people he was the only one to get it. 

 What advice would you give a young person?

 I would say think of something that no one else is doing and do it really well, a good honest product.  If you believe in what you are doing and do it properly – we have lots of pride in our work, I think that shines through, and people end up with something that they are really thrilled with.

 What do you think education should be like?

 Having a good education gives you more opportunities and more choices.  But that doesn’t mean that you don’t have them, because it’s what comes from within you, I think.   So I would always encourage them.  I was not encouraged enough, I think.  My mum used to say, ‘oh I didn’t do well so don’t worry about it’, whereas I would never say that to my children!  But at the same time, there people who are not educated that have done very well, so it’s the drive within you, when you think ‘I can do this’.  It’s positivity.