Up to date!

For the first time since i started my business we have finished all the jobs before the holidays, the workshop is tidy and the tools are all sharp. We also have work to come back to in the new year. It's a strange feeling not being in a rush to get everything finished. Hopefully that means we will have a relaxing holiday. First job in the new year is to fix our leaking roof so we're praying for some calm dry weather!

Boardroom table installed at last!

Last year we were commissioned to made a boardroom table and 20 chairs for a client in Shetland. It was going in the office which were due to be finished last year. We were really excited about the design and couldn't wait to get some pictures of the project once it was finished. Because of a lots of different reasons the build was delayed, but this week we got "The phone call" to go and help move the furniture into the boardroom. More pictures will be up of the boardroom soon, but this one will have to do to wet you appetite.

2008 so far.....

With our blog back on line here are some of the highlights of 2008.....

On a sunny day in April we had a photo shoot at St. Ninian's Isle, some of the pictures feature on our homepage.

Later in April Andrew went to Norway to take part in a stofa building project. Stofas are a traditional Norwegian style log cabin. The project was to partly rebuild a Stofa which is now on Papa Stour. The logs were shaped in Bergen then later in the summer transported to Papa Stour to a site where archeologists had found the remains of a Stofa dating from Viking times.

In June Paparwark exhibited at the "Flavour of Shetland" showcase held on Victoria Pier in Lerwick. The weather was mixed but still a good opportunity to exhibit to locals and tourists.

Also in June we had several pieces of work photographed by Mark Sinclair of phatsheep. You can see more of his work at www.phatsheep.co.uk. Each year Shetland Arts and crafts pays for members to have professional photography of some of their work.

August included a well deserved holiday with the workshop closing down.

Elm dining table

We have recently made 4 tables for a boardroom in Shetland. We had this lovely piece of elm in stock which we desided to use for the top of an extra table in a similar style as the other four. The wanny edge of the timber was left on the outside edges to give a natural look. We will exhibit the table at shows at hopefully sell. Any takers!

"More than us" at Inverness

I was at a conference called 'more than us' a couple of week ago in Inverness. That included global warming, the need for more localised economies, discovering wildness and being much more in tune with the natural world. I am interested in making my business more environmentally friendly. At the moment we are able to recycle all our timber waste as either fire wood or the saw dust is used for composting in a tree nursery or animal bedding. We have also started to use local timber for furniture manufacture. The problem in Shetland is the lack of trees to use in furniture production. I have been working with the local Amenity trust to locate suitable trees from there small woodlands

Art display table

We have just finished a small coffee table which will be used to display the clients favour textile art pieces. She was inspired from the museum tables which displayed 30 pieces made by 27 different textile artists. This table was different because she wanted the top to be all glass so that larger piece of textile could be display. The legs have a beautiful twisting shape which was hand carved.

At the moment we are working on quite a few small jobs. we are preparing for the ideal homes exhibition in september. we decided for the exhibition, we would make a few tables to display. We re making four small tables, each with a differently shaped legs. We have also started making carved house signs and have made two to exhibit at the show.