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Our founder Bill Garvey
Bill Garvey’s love of craftsmanship, beauty and nature has fuelled a career in woodworking that has spanned the last 50 years.
In 1971, Bill Garvey gave up his training in medicine. What followed was the start of a lifelong journey in furniture making, one driven by instinct, confidence and a natural talent for working with his hands.
Bill’s early pieces were handmade cigar and jewellery boxes, sold to clients including Harrods, Dunhill and Asprey. But it was in 1976, when he moved the business to a derelict dairy farm in Devon, that things truly took root.
“The house and workshop buildings are bordered by wonderful countryside, overlooked by an Iron Age fort and surrounded by ancient beech woodland,” says Bill. “It may seem far from London or the Middle East, but once clients visit us, they understand. This ancient place enhances the feeling that what they’re commissioning is something truly special.”
This peaceful, rural setting belies the pace and precision of a business that works to global timescales. From the United States to Abu Dhabi, London to Isle of Man, clients turn to William Garvey for excellent craftsmanship, delivered with professionalism and grace. As Bill puts it, “We may be rural, but we’re anything but slow. Deadlines don’t care where you’re based – and neither do we.”
Many clients come to William Garvey through word of mouth, a natural result of exceptional work and long-standing relationships.
“We might work on a house, and the client asks us to help with another or on their yacht,” says Bill. “One thing leads to another.”
Yacht interiors, in particular, demand some of the most exacting standards of design and engineering. “Furniture onboard must be beautiful, but also lightweight and robust,” Bill explains. “You’re also often working around miles of cabling or incorporating intricate electronics. It’s complex work – but that’s exactly what we enjoy.”
A quiet network of old outbuildings has become the ideal home for creative thinking. “We need peace to invent. The core of our work is to transform ideas, drawings, sketches into realisable objects before making them. Each is a unique response to a unique brief. We don’t repeat ourselves – we’re always inventing.”
As someone who has planted thousands of trees on the land, Bill finds a deep satisfaction in seeing something grow, literally and metaphorically. “It’s a great pleasure to have seen a tiny seedling, not even as thick as my little finger, grow into a tree… and then to make something from it.”
Wood remains at the heart of it all. “It’s a remarkable material – constantly changing, always alive. It responds to tools in a way that feels almost sentient. Any woodworker will tell you: it’s a joy to work with.”
Looking back, Bill reflects on the journey with a mix of humility and quiet pride. “I sometimes have to pinch myself. It’s amazing what we’ve done. But really, I just started making furniture.”
