Paul Gibson has been part of the Real Wood Studios team since the November 2024 and he might be the first face you see when you visit the Studios.
“Working here, we all make a commitment to help customers – and my bench is here at the front, so I am also a friendly face for people visiting us.
As an engineer you never get to work with wood. My engineering career took me away a lot, and eventually, I had enough travelling, and I wanted to give something back, so I went into teaching. Here I taught graphic design, engineering, metalwork and design and manufacturing. And woodwork!”
“After my teaching career, I returned to wood and wanted to make a piece of furniture for our home, we were looking around for timber and I found Real Wood Studios. After a few visits, I found out they were renting “bench space” in the studios. My wife said “why don’t you go up there, you’ll have more space”. It was Alasdair l I first spoke to and he couldn’t have been more enthusiastic and welcoming, it just felt right. I knew straight away I wanted to come here.
I’m learning all the time when I’m here. When I was talking with the team about trying to find my style, Al and Ross and Louise all say, ‘I’ll support you to make it happen, the world’s your oyster’.”