a woodsmith
When we’re young, we often look up to and take inspiration from those that surround us such as our families. Dominic was such a child. Generations of woodworkers formed part of his family unit from carpenters to conservation joiners, craft teachers and journeymen. This is his story…..
Going back all those years, Dominic can recall working with wood in his grandads old rickety woodshed where he’d watch him make furniture. It’s also the place where Dominic was introduced to working with a lathe alongside his grandad. With that kind of interest in designing and making all things wooden, the transition from school to college was by way of studying Environmental Science and Product Design. From there Dominic started working for a company who carried out conservation work on historic buildings and built up his experience within this specialised area.
“My practices closely resemble the Scandinavian principles of “Sloyd”
Most of Dominic’s family are born and bred in Cornwall so I guess it was inevitable that a move down here would always be on the cards one day. So, there came a point when Dominic’s partner was considering doing a silversmith degree and the options of where to study at the time was either London or Cornwall. We all know what the outcome of that was, Cornwall of course. So, they both moved down to Falmouth,
Dominic then worked for a local builders based in Falmouth where he learnt to work with hand cut green Oak. That led onto him going self employed and restoring listed buildings and eco new builds. In 2017 Dominics grandad passed away, a big influence in his life, so he decided to get back to his roots and that’s where we see him today, embarking on this journey to make a living through the art of craft. I asked Dominic what the term woodsmith meant, “A woodsmith is like the village carpenters of old who would meet the needs of their particular community. The craft of making woodenware goes back thousands of years from great halls of the kings to the vikings etc. My practices closely resemble the Scandinavian principles of “Sloyd”.
I visited Dominic at his workshop, self built and at the end of a mile long track in the middle of nowhere. Was it how I imagined? I guess so. Full of old school tools, some of which I’d never seen before and others I admired. There was a smell of fresh green sycamore that day as I watched Dominic turn a block of wood into a bowl by way of his lathe and then he went on to the shaping of a spoon. I thought I’d seen it all when it came to working with wood but that was not the case when I saw what Dominic clearly loves doing.
Cheers Dominic
