Hello, I hope you are very well and many thanks for taking the time to have a look around my website and portfolio.  I’m Patrick and for as long as I can remember I’ve been making things. 

As a child I was always either outside, or messing around in my parents’ garage making things and almost certainly using power tools that I wasn’t allowed to.  Some notable early projects were a full size samurai sword in pine which eventually bit the dust when, despite numerous warnings to be careful from my Mum, I smashed a hallway glass light over my head in an explosive HI-YA. Into the garage I was marched, into the old Black and Decker workmate the sword was clamped and through it I sawed from whence the pieces were conveyed to the big black wheelie bin, never to be seen again.  I’m not sure I’ve ever really fully recovered from this episode but maybe it was character building, and nonetheless it was certainly an appropriate punishment for my reckless behaviour.

This early interest in making things eventually found its natural conclusion with me jumping in to help a friend of a friend on a whole house renovation as a labourer when I was 18.  Hard work it certainly was but I was immediately captivated by the visceral reward of creating something with my hands and the gratification of a hard day’s work (and a bit of cash in my pocket!).  That friend of a friend turned out to be an excellent builder and latterly became one of my best friends and has been a great mentor to me throughout my career. 

I loved building from the start and always secretly harboured a desire to make a go of it but as with many people life pulled me in a different direction and I gained a degree in American History and Politics from the University of Sussex including a great year spent in the United States at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  While at university I’d jump back into working at any chance I got and through this period I gained good experience in general residential building work, mainly focusing on renovation, including bathrooms and kitchens, loft conversions and also extensions including serious structural work on occasion.

Whilst working on these projects I always tried to soak up as much as I could, mainly through watching how things were done and as time went on I became more and more interested in the carpentry aspect of the work, I think from my early interest in making things from wood.  Eventually I got to the point where I was essentially a hand to our lead carpenter who was an excellent tradesman with great experience in all types of carpentry (although the man would best be termed a roof and skill-saw wizard).  I learnt a lot from him and was able to experience a huge range of work as the firm was small so we would do everything from beginning to end. 

A thirst for adventure took me to Australia for a couple of years where I lived and worked in Melbourne, mostly again in residential renovation, but I also did a long stint timber framing houses which was great fun.

After returning to the UK I subcontracted as a carpenter to a few larger builders and then eventually went out on my own, winning work with private clients. As I was building my business, I would take on general building work but always looked for projects with a joinery focus and I would always pride and sell myself on my joiner’s attention to detail.  As I went on my interests and work evolved and I began to do more and more traditional joinery and cabinet making as well as some stints subcontracting to other specialised joinery and furniture-making companies to gain wider experience.  Added to this I also immersed myself in the world of fine furniture making, reading and learning as much as I possibly could about methods and practice as well as studying the work of the great makers. 

Eventually I took the decision to specialise and focus on the part of my work I really love, joinery and cabinet making, which brings us neatly to the present day.