Celebrity woodworking

[OscarG]

here is an example of the kind of things that I have been working on. As you can see, high-end clients don't always have high-end pieces

Size of that workshop... it's an aircraft hangar!

Very nice work, looking forward to seeing more.

 

[shed9]

Good luck, looking forward to your input.

 

[Ttrees]

Nice work Christopher
Looking forward to seeing some videos
Welcome to the forum aswell

Tom

 

[petermillard]

Give him a chance chaps, all a bit harsh at present.

As opposed to the YouTube comments, Bob, which will all be sweetness and light, puppy dogs and kittens...

I think Christopher (and welcome, btw) may have rubbed people up the wrong way with the celebrity angle, and perhaps been a little previous in announcing a YouTube channel with no content, but I look forward to seeing how he goes about making - both the videos and splintery stuff.

Cheers, Peter.

 

[transatlantic]

Well - I wouldn't blame you if you don't come back ...but if you do, I would enjoy watching!

 

[Christopher Johns]

Thank you for all of your input guys. I feel that sometimes we can learn more from negative comments. I am not so used to speaking to other woodworkers so I am learning things already

Dr Bob - Any large piece like in the picture were always put together in the workshop but kitchen carcasses were not.
I doubt that I will ever be able to work in a shop of that size again, especially making any projects from home.

Oscar G - the workshop buildings were 34,360sq ft but unfortunately I just worked for the company.
When I started there, there were well in excess of 100 people and then right at the end, there were only 4 to make and install everything.

To all those positive comments - I thank you for the welcome
To all those negative comments - I will welcome your criticism during my time on here (and learn from the sensible ones)

 

[woodbloke66]

When I started there, there were well in excess of 100 people and then right at the end, there were only 4 to make and install everything.

That says an awful lot; so what went wrong? - Rob

 

[Trevanion]

I mean no offense with my comments and I don't like to put a man down but I don't get this thread at all.
If you're trying to come across as a humble craftsman you should really avoid phrases like "making stuff for the very high end" and "working with many celebrities and royalty" and having the thread title as "Celebrity woodworking". Especially if realistically you were only a gear in someone else's machine at the time of all of that.

At the moment you're trying to promote a youtube channel with literally no content other than a banner saying "Craftsman to the stars". You say you're not bragging and that you're a humble person but I really would say anyone who thought that of himself is seriously big-headed and needs to be kicked down a notch. Also if he hasn't got anything to show for himself except for a picture of work he did whilst working for someone else.

I tend to be neutral as possible on the forum and I'm sorry if nobody agrees with me but the whole "High-end this" and "Celebrity and royal that" rubs me totally the wrong way. To me, a client is just a client regardless of social status and wealth. If there was a little more content and pictures of current work rather than passing off somebody else's work as your own I wouldn't be so harsh. Maybe you should spend a bit of time lending your "expertise" to some threads here, plenty of questions to be answered.

 

[Christopher Johns]

woodbloke66 - a mixture of pretty bad things

The company was bought out by someone who started to get the furniture made in both Romania and Indonesia.
The staff were treated like absolute s**t
The management team towards the end consisted of people who had no idea about kitchens or anything related
Office staff calling the shots over the craftsman
new managing director turning up and saying timber is timber, then ordering featheredge boards.....
by featheredge boards I don't mean live edge slabs, I mean genuine fence and shed timber.... to make drawers with :shock:
(we obviously refused to use it)

A huge mixture of things, things that we were never believed about as they are just too farfetched sounding reasons!
I once went and bought a table saw from a guy about 100 miles away and he asked who I worked for. When I said he replied "oh I hear they are doing really bad, I heard the quality has gone" I mean this was a guy in a little workshop about 100 miles away from me.
Another thing that didn't help was when the office staff upset certain "famous people". Famous people usually have friends in the media and that didn't help.

 

[MikeG.]

........new managing director turning up and saying timber is timber, then ordering featheredge boards.....
.

Wow!! In fact, two "wows". Firstly, that anyone could be that ignorant. Secondly, that a managing director is buying stock.

-

I've given you a fairly tough time, and I apologise if I've seemed a bit harsh. My general point is that your audience here is woodworkers, and we don't give a damn who your clients are, so why would anyone come in with all the royalty/ celebrity/ stars stuff to a woodworkers forum. Ho hum. That's been dealt with. What is going to be fascinating is watching you develop a business from scratch, and one aimed at that particular niche. Are you going to turn down requests for painted MDF infill units alongside chimneys, or for stairs for painting, or to re-hang a warped door? I've told myself hundreds of times over the years, and said the same thing to anyone else who will listen, that woodworking is easy. Dead easy. What is difficult is selling the stuff you make, and then making it in a time efficient manner. How you set about proving me right will be interesting to watch, and I genuinely wish you the very best of luck.

I know a guy well who made himself a multi-millionaire mainly using a froe, a draw knife, and a bobbin sander...........but his success was all about his marketing skills, not his woodworking skills. Your most important role in this new venture isn't making the stuff, but selling it, and that means lots of hours when you are designing, meeting clients, doing stuff on line and so on, which is all time that your orders aren't being fulfilled. You certainly haven't chosen the easy option.

 

[Chris152]

I reckon anyone with the balls to say 'Woodworker to the Stars' (sorry Christopher, I know you didn't say that exactly) probably has at least some of what it takes to sell these days.
My first house needed a new kitchen fitted and at the time, I had a student renting a room who was a cabinet maker, and who'd fitted kitchens for, among others, an Oprah and a Rod (a famous singer). My kitchen units were the cheapest, carpiest flatpack I could find, but he fitted and customised them beautifully. Part of the pleasure was the fact they all fitted and worked so well; but part was the knowledge that someone so skilled and accomplished had fitted them for me. I was now a bit like Oprah and Rod.
I think the story behind the work/ worker can help a lot with marketing, and I also think that for some on this site who are interested in selling their work, that connection might be important.

 

[Bodgers]

It is not bragging, some people find it very interesting. .......... People like stories behind certain pieces of furniture........

I hope you're getting the message that this particular audience isn't interested in your clients. This is a woodworking forum, so the woodwork, rather than the tittle tattle, is what we're most likely to be interested in. We're mainly a bunch of old farts who probably don't even know of most the "celebrities" you say you've worked for, let alone care.It's nice to have another pro woodworker here (there are quite a few), but don't fall into the trap of thinking that "celebrity" or "royal" has any significance for this audience, other than a tendency to raise hackles.

BTW, I'd suggest you carefully think this sort of thing through before you launch your Youtube channel, because some potential clients may well be put off by seeing the privacy of other clients compromised, were you to become a serial name-dropper in your videos.

I wouldn't be on such a downer about it.

The flip side is that a lot of celebraties, particularly those that are 'famous for being famous' can't get enough of the exposure.

I'm not a viewer myself, but I understand TV programs such as MTV 'Cribs' do well for this reason.

That's what I see for this channel: 'woodworking Cribs' on YouTube.

 

[Christopher Johns]

The whole working for a famous client base thing is more about the actual YouTube channel and marketing side of things and not what I have come on to this forum for. I have come here to discuss woodworking.

 

[AJB Temple]

Thats fair enough. So let's have a new thread to discuss some woodworking. Looking forward to your contributions.

 

[Christopher Johns]

but I really would say anyone who thought that of himself is seriously big-headed and needs to be kicked down a notch.

Purely a marketing thing. As any woodworker will know.... the product is the product no matter who the person who buys it is. So big headed I am not. My work is average, to say the least. The whole marketing thing is for the Youtube channel.

90% of the people that I worked for had fame and I am in touch still with a lot of them. When they need work doing I was planning on asking them whether I could film/ talk to them on my channel when I am there. A lot of the public like this kind of stuff. Society is obsessed with it all even if the likes of you and I are not.

 

[OscarG]

I'm still shocked by the story of your old MD buying any old crap wood and thinking "ah it's all the same!"

How does someone that daft become MD?

It's like running a high end restaurant and buying cheap sausage meat from Morrisons to serve up as quality steak! #-o

 

[Christopher Johns]

investors wanting companies for their portfolios and bringing in family members who have no idea about anything. Directors living abroad and letting monkies run everything.
It gets a lot worse than that.....

One day I report a puncture on the van and I get told by the manager... can't you just put some black glue in it?
Yes, these were the kind of people I was dealing with and at this point, I refused to ever go out and fit kitchens again as I didn't feel safe with the vehicles.
Again....Whenever I or any other ex-staff tell the stories, they are so unbelievable that only the local people who knew the company will believe us.

I wouldn't usually bad mouth others and employers but with these, I don't hold back. I can't say the company name as they will soon reopen under another LTD name just like they have done the previous 5 or so times.

 

[woodbloke66]

...and said the same thing to anyone else who will listen, that woodworking is easy. Dead easy. What is difficult is selling the stuff you make, and then making it in a time efficient manner. How you set about proving me right will be interesting to watch, and I genuinely wish you the very best of luck.

I know a guy well who made himself a multi-millionaire mainly using a froe, a draw knife, and a bobbin sander...........but his success was all about his marketing skills, not his woodworking skills. Your most important role in this new venture isn't making the stuff, but selling it, and that means lots of hours when you are designing, meeting clients, doing stuff on line and so on, which is all time that your orders aren't being fulfilled. You certainly haven't chosen the easy option.

I'd have to take issue with the ''woodworking is easy. Dead easy'' Mike. If you make simple stuff and don't 'push the envelope' then it is fairly straightforward. It becomes a lot more difficult when you do something more ambitious and then you really can be up against it unless you can think your way through the problems.

You are spot on though with the marketing aspect. When you set yourself up in business as a professional wood mangler, anyone, regardless of who they may be, is businessman first (with all that it implies) and a woodworker a long way second - Rob

 

[doctor Bob]

It's fairly obvious which company you're talking about. So I'd be a bit careful what you say.
It does have a very chequered past as do all the companies owned by that umbrella company.
The old boss did a remarkable expansion job, I think he got out at it's peak. I know him reasonably well, he has some amazing cars.
Of course this is assuming it's the company I think it is, but not many companies in that neck of the woods that big and gone bust.

I too also worked for a similar company, 150 employees, I was a cabinet maker but looking back I wasn't. It was a glorified production line with me doing the glamorous part. Working for yourself is much more challenging and rewarding. In my opionion it's when you really start to learn to make stuff, but more importantly how to work efficiently (i.e. not putting things together twice).

Some nice stuff, £42000 for a walnut desk last time I had contact with them (curiosity and a client asking for similar).

 

[AJB Temple]

Indeed the collapse of this group has been quite widely reported and is apparently rising from the ashes under a new US owner. If you like tiny bones in a town not far from Stonehenge with a name not dissimilar to devices you may find it. The other brand is nothing to do with Wilkinson Sword razors mark you.