The aim of 'The-Holler' is to provide a traditional option to mass produced interiors and carpentry while keeping traditions alive into a new era of heavy industry processed materials. By using locally sourced 'natural / selective fall' timber naturally seasoned combined with traditional hand crafted carpentry skills I keep our carbon footprint to a minimum and use traditional crafts rather than machines to produce real hand made pieces with all the character that produces. All my work is unique and/or specific to the individual clients requirements.
I started working with my father at the age of 12 helping out on building sites in the school holidays, I started my carpentry and joinery indentured apprenticeship 3 years later at the age of 15. Now in my 50's with over 40 years experience in trade and management positions combined with generations of craftsmen in my family both paternal and maternal handing down many of the old skills to me. Knowledge we now need to keep alive, the are the traditions and skills of our forefathers. I always do my utmost to utilise old skills and tools rather than modern technology.
Since qualifying all those years ago I developed a career in construction management that gave great insight into all sides of the industry and around the world. From royal palaces here in the uk to expat villages in Saudi Arabia. In 2020 I returned to the UK due to the covid outbreak only to find out after the lock-downs where I had to fund myself completely, that I no longer had a place of work within the industry I knew and loved due to my career having been ability based rather than academic. So, what do you do, 50 years old and un employable… start your own company. So with no money, contracts or contacts here and only a simple set of tools, decades of knowledge and a skill set and imagination second to none, mid June 2022 I started ‘The-Holler’ with the intention of building a business on quality, hard work, honesty and decency. Things I had not found in abundance on my return, also I found so many tradesmen were more aligned to just fitting pre-bought standard items. With my skills and expertise there are no boundaries to your imaginations can have, I specialize in blending traditional design with avantgarde style, immersing myself in the work hoping to energise our your ideas an dreams into reality with the same verve and energy found in 'The Hollers' of Appalachia where nothing is impossible after which the company is named.
A 'Holler' is traditional name given to a small clearing in the trees up in the high mountain areas of Appalachia by the Scottish and Irish settlers who migrated to the new world . When i worked in Saudi I discovered a passion for the music of the old time settlers and took to playing the banjo! my parents being Scotts / Irish I was raised on old time folk music and traditions similar to these settlers as my parents were both raised in such places. When i came home to live after Saudi this passion grew and i nicknamed my house 'The-Holler'. When my savings ran out and times fell hard I started working in my old ways and skills from home, That first year I made rustic worktops in my dining room during winter as it was too cold to do it outdoors in my back yard. I needed a workshop., not far from home i found the place and it worked, a room with a leaky roof with plenty of space to work. It is in the old canteen on Higher Walton mill, running beside it is the river Darwen, all settled in among tress in a small holler where there was once a small thriving community employed by the mill and a foundry in the heart of Lancashire, a Lancashire Holler, the name stuck.
In the Hollers people were hardy and industrious, they never threw anything away and lived in harmony with the mountains, nature and the seasons. Money was sparce and yet time was plenty so mending and fixing things up was normal. People were kind to each other and strangers, always trying to help out any way how. This is both a description of the old time Hollers and where my Holler is now.
A modern day Holler where you can come and have a chat and be made welcome, where you can find skills and knowledge and a man, who, can still do things the old way.
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