Hi, my name is James, welcome to
Made Ply Hand.
With a background in graphic design i found myself wanting a more hands-on creative outlet, and converting our family camper van using plywood became just that! I quickly found myself experimenting with this versatile material to create contemporary plywood furniture for our home.
Using my design experience i’ve been able to translate my creative style from paper to plywood, featuring clean lines, block colours and geometric patterns. I now offer a range of made-to-order, custom furniture pieces with a modern Scandi aesthetic, all handmade in my workshop in Perranporth, Cornwall.
If you’d like browse the range please take a look here or if you have an enquiry or design you’d like to commission, please get in touch.
Why Plywood?
Plywood is at the heart of everything i create. It is a highly versatile material with great strength properties and a clean modern aesthetic.
What is plywood?
Plywood is made by layering and glueing thin wood fibre sheets together at 90º angles of each other to create a very strong and stable material. This method of ‘cross bonding’ eliminates shrinkage, warping and expansion and provides consistent strength throughout the sheet.
Sustainability
Reduce, Reuse & Recycle
My making process, which involves digital planning, allows me to utilise as much of the plywood sheets and eliminating as much waste as possible.
Any leftover scraps and mishaps materials are donated to my local scrapstore, who collect this waste and makes it available to schools, community groups and individuals to reuse and create with.
Birch Plywood
Birch plywood has a beautiful ‘pale’ colour . Birch plywood comes in many different ‘grades’ to suit a variety of applications. I only use the top grade plywood which has a uniform colour across the sheet and is free from knots and streaks to ensure a beautiful, consistent look to my furniture.
Sustainable Furniture
Birch is an abundant, fast growing species (roughly a third to half as long as an oak tree to reach maturity) which makes it a sustainable choice for furniture. The birch tree is primarily found in the forests of Canada, Russia and countries in Northern Europe such as Finland and Latvia.
The birch plywood i use is FSC certified. This requires 10 principles to be met including to Maintain, conserve and/or restore ecosystem services and environmental values of the Management Unit, and shall avoid, repair or mitigate negative environmental impacts.