Most of us have a fixed view on furniture, but MATT CLARK meets a craftsman who has torn up the rule book

MARK LAYCOCK doesn’t make furniture from wood; he makes furniture from trees. That may sound like a fine distinction, but it’s not – it’s the whole point.

You see, Mark fell in love with wood as a tree feller. He says being the first person to see the colours inside a hundred-year-old trunk changed his life. He wanted to become a cabinet maker.

But there was a slight snag. Mark confesses to being hopeless at woodwork when he was at school. So he borrowed a few books, pestered a few joiners and gradually mastered the art of hand-made dovetails.

He’s not much of an artist either, so everything he makes has to come straight out of his head. Now this may seem an unlikely combination, but it works brilliantly. Mark produces exquisite pieces from his workshop in Robin Hood’s Bay.

Unconventional, yes, but again that is the whole point.

“If you learn under somebody you learn their way of working,” says Mark. “I taught my own style, myself .”

Which means no restrictive conventions, such as straight edges. Mark only uses them when absolutely necessary.

His other philosophy is to use as much of the tree as he can. Even off-cuts go to the local smoke house.

Mark also creates his contemporary and sculptural furniture with unusual timbers and dead or diseased trees that would otherwise become firewood.

“That’s a sin to me. I use a slab exactly as it comes; bark edges, sapwood, knots, it’s all in the beauty of the tree. I accept that it’s not everybody’s cup of tea but it’s what makes me tick.”

At first so-called experts accused Mark of not making proper furniture; but these days his long list of clients tells another story.

Not that it’s easy to describe his style. Latter day Art Nouveau, perhaps, with a touch of Bauhaus. He makes Mies Van der Rohe and Le Corbusier look conventional.

“The only restrictions I have are my imagination,” Mark says. “If it can be made from wood I’ll have a go at making it.”

And even the most basic idea can evolve into something quite special. A good example is a recently made cabinet with natural edged doors. Mark says he could spend hours shaping a piece of wood and it wouldn’t look as good. So why cut it?

“You’ve got to know where to stop and more work goes into leaving well alone. The tree does most of the work. All I have to do is show it off at its best.”

Which is an interesting concept. We generally think wood has to be practical and has to be turned into something. But hasn’t nature already done that?

Of course carcasses, legs and so on have to be added, but how can you improve a piece of spectacularly grained elm or oak? Other norms are also there to be broken. Mark once turned a teak bath on his lathe and a half-ton bowl for another client. It was so large she could sit in it.

“Everyone can make fruit bowls, there’s no fun in that. I like to do big things. But it’s got to look right. There’s no compromise, it’s either right or it’s not.”

That said, playing safe isn’t in this man’s vocabulary and isn’t there something rather refreshing about that?

“Some people put more of themselves into something,” says Mark. “I try to leave more of the nature in it.”

•Mark Laycock, The Woodcraft Workshop, 3 Station Buildings, Station Road, Robin Hood’s Bay, YO22 4RA
Office: 01947 881111
Workshop: 07989 661958
mark@marklaycock.co.uk
marklaycock.co.uk