Meet the entrepreneurs who tapped into their creativity amid the crisis of the pandemic

Barnaby Ash and Dru Plumb founded their wood workshop in 2020. Barnaby (far right) tells us how their venture began We meet the entrepreneurs who tapped into their creativity amid the crisis of the pandemic – and never looked back

I’ve worked in an odd mix of roles, from fashion editor to bike mechanic and gardener, while Dru was in PR, marketing and events for the fashion industry. It certainly gave us a range of transferable skills.

We’d always wanted to start our own business, but it took a while to find something we were passionate enough about to get us motivated. Though we both have a fascination with handcrafted design, neither of us had ever tried our hands at making anything, until just over two years ago when we fitted some custom shelving in the kitchen. Before we knew it, we had set up a workshop space in our garage and moved on to other projects. We bought a woodturning lathe and started refining our ideas. But it took Dru’s loss of employment at the start of lockdown to really give us the push to get our act together.

We draw inspiration from the natural world, it provides endless iterations of immaculate form ripe for reference! We have a particular fascination with softer objects and are often drawn to the curves created through the interaction of water and stone and even subtle nods to the human form.

Since lockdown, luxury and craft are being redefined – people are interested in the narrative around the maker, how it was made and the provenance of materials. ashandplumb.co.uk

Words KATE WORTHINGTON