“I first got into carpentry at a very young age,” begins BespOAK Interiors founder Dan Lee. “I used to sneak into my granddad’s workshop every time we went round there to see what he was making; he used to make wooden games that would often come out at family gatherings.”

“My grandparents bought me my first set of tools when I was about five and I began experimenting. Working with wood had always been a hobby for me, but I have never officially trained as a carpenter, which is one of the reasons I think my products have ended up being so quirky and unorthodox!”

Crafting ‘tree shelves,’ ‘floating shelves’ and everything in between, Lee says that his inspiration often lies in people and of course, nature. “I always find it incredible how quickly an idea can develop when you talk it over with someone who has a similar vision to you,” he continues. 

“Once I realised that pretty much any shape can be made into a shelf, I started picking out patterns that might work from everywhere. Some of the designs come from trees I have seen whilst walking the dog, others from photographs I have seen of interesting trees, and one even comes from a tree that was in our garden at home when I was younger.”

Beginning the designs with a hand-drawn sketch and then playing around with it on the computer, Lee says a fundamental aspect of his process is to ensure they can easily fit into a box when sending them out to customers. “On the computer I can break the design down into pieces to see how they will all slot together to fit in a box. As we send things all over the world, this is very crucial and has often governed changes to a design so that it can fit in easily,” he offers. 

“I write fitting instructions for every shelf, and try to make them so that they can be fitted at home by the everyday DIY’er and look correctly proportioned as an end product. It always frustrates me when I see a computer rendered image of something that has never been made.” Concluding, he says, “I believe the actual work in creating a product is working out how to physically make it and then how to get it to the customers door in one piece.”

Check out Dan’s work on bespoakinteriors.co.uk.