Andrew’s Bespoke service has made wood work for him.
Andrew Chapman’s firm, Chapman Bespoke Woodwork, makes made-to-order furniture. He has run the business by himself from his Hertford workshop since starting up 18 months ago. Mr Chapman, 29, said “I aim to provide people with one-off pieces. If someone tells me they want a type of furniture, I can go into their home and design a piece of furniture that looks like it belongs. Mr Chapman, of Glenester Close, Hodessdon, started in the woodwork industry aged 16. From completing a modern apprenticeship at Beckwith & Son Hertford he has done a variety of jobs from restoration to joinery and building a luxury log cabin in Canada for a year.
Mr Chapman continued, “I set the company up because after doing different type of jobs, I decided that what I really wanted to do was make these unique pieces.
I’ve always been interested in woodwork since I was 12 years old and my great uncle who was an incredible craftsman, started to teach me in his workshop, that sparked my imagination and from there that was all I wanted to do.
Though the business is currently a one-man operation, with the help of a mentor Mr Chapman hopes to be able to expand in the future. He added ” I haven’t had any business education at all and this a chance to get that. Getting interviewed for this contest made me realise that I had a rough idea of where I wanted the business to go. But I didn’t have a proper plan of exactly where I wanted the business to be in a particular point of time. I want to stay locally based but expand the amount of business that the company is doing and become well-known and well-respected.