The Studio Begins

Zayin was born out of a simple desire to create.

A quick side note - Zayin is the Hebrew number for seven, which in the culture, represents wholeness and perfection. That has always been my pursuit - perfection - whilst also realising that there will always be mistakes. It’s all a process of making those mistakes smaller - and better hidden.

Now furniture design had always been an idea knocking around at the back of my head, and crafting creations has always been a passion of mine, so following my degree in Design Engineering - which would not have lead to much making - a change needed to happen. It was time for some soul searching. 

I began speaking with several different long time professionals and, on their advice, ventured into upcycling. I bought an orbital sander and began the search for old pieces of furniture that needed a new lease of life.

Based in Bristol at the time, I started looking for furniture in every charity shop in town. Unfortunately, on my first try I started in the nicest part of town. Not my smartest move. I walked out of each shop feeling discouraged at the prices I was seeing and decided to head home. I walked down the street back to my bike and noticed, in the corner of my eye, a truck that said, 'FURNITURE REMOVAL' on the side.

Finding a really nice solid oak folding table (I still don't understand why someone threw it out) and having been told that it was all going to the dump, I now had a problem. How to get a solid oak table to my workshop with no car? I say workshop - more, dingy underground bunker that a friend was very kindly letting me use for free. I deliberated with myself in the middle of the street for a while, 'do I leave it or carry it all the way to the workshop?'.

I carried it. All the way. And then collapsed. 

From there it could only be onwards and upwards. I soon realised that it was far more sensible to make a career out of designing and making my own furniture, and so that’s what I did, and through a ridiculous turn of events, I ended up with a pretty decent studio space to get my start with the business.

Having worked at a few spaces now, I’m currently based in Wiston, West Sussex, so, particularly if you’re local, do get in touch and we can talk designs.