About the maker
Hello, I'm George, the craftsman behind Baker's Home Workshop in Chester. With a background in professional furniture making and a lifelong interest in designing and building things, I combine traditional joinery techniques with modern digital design to create bespoke wooden signs, kitchen doors, furniture, cabinetry and distinctive handmade pieces.
How a living room became a workshop
I previously spent around ten years working as a professional furniture maker before taking a break from woodworking for a while. When I returned to the craft, it began as a hobby with one particular project in mind: building a bespoke kitchen for my son.
What started as a single project soon snowballed into something much bigger. Before long, my passion for woodworking had transformed what was once my living room into a fully equipped working workshop here in Lancashire.
What began as a way of getting back into the craft has developed into a place where I can design and build everything from furniture and cabinetry to kitchen doors, bespoke signs, and smaller handmade pieces.
Traditional craft meets modern design
My approach to woodworking combines traditional craftsmanship with modern design and technology. My background in furniture making has given me a strong foundation in traditional joinery, construction and finishing, while my extensive use of CAD allows me to develop ideas, work out dimensions and plan complex projects before I start cutting timber.
I also design and build my own jigs, fixtures and workshop equipment when a project calls for something specific. I occasionally use 3D printing to create prototypes and practical workshop aids, and AI can be useful as a sounding board for developing ideas or creating templates.
The technology is there to help me design and solve problems, but the finished piece is made by hand in the workshop.
From raw timber to the finished piece
Every project starts with an idea and the right piece of timber. Depending on what I'm making, I might begin with a CAD design, a carefully worked-out plan, or simply an idea that needs developing at the bench.
From there, the timber is measured, marked, cut and shaped using a combination of machinery and traditional hand tools. Joinery, assembly and finishing are carried out with the same attention to accuracy and detail whether I'm making a piece of furniture, a set of kitchen doors, a personalised sign or something for the workshop itself.
I enjoy the process as much as the finished result — working out how something should be made, solving the problems along the way and gradually turning raw timber into something useful, practical or simply pleasing to look at.
Every piece leaves the workshop having been made, assembled and finished by me.
“There’s something special about taking a piece of timber and turning it into something that didn’t exist before. Whether it’s a piece of furniture, a set of kitchen doors, a personalized sign, or a jig for the workshop, I enjoy the process of working out how to make it and then making it happen.”
George, Baker's Home Workshop
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