One of the exciting byproducts of the current fascination with interior design, and the high proportion of personal wealth that is poured into the property market, is the resurgence of beautiful hand made products for the home. With the ever increasing demand for new built homes, these can be bland and featureless, lacking the original features of period properties. As a result there are a number of secret craftsmen working here in London to produce the exquisite door handles, staircases , paint effects and details that provide a house or flat with interest and personality.
Today’s featured craftsman is Dinos Constantinou , who I met on site as he fitted a curved English oak handrail. The wooden tool to right of the pliers is a carpenter’s mallet Dinos inherited, made of an exceptionally hard wood called lignum vitae.
Propertyferret seized an opportunity for a short interview.
PF. Dinos, when a client looks at an architect’s plans and sees a big ticket item called “wreathed handrail”, what is it exactly?
Dinos: This will be a a craftsman built handrail which will have to be specially commissioned. Hand-railing is not carpentry or joinery. In fact it is a specialist combination of very accurate geometry and wood turning.
PF. How did you get started in the business and learn your craft?
Dinos: I originally joined my brother-in-law’s firm H. Brettell & Sons , as a salesman. H. Brettell was Britain’s oldest wood turning firm, my brother in law being fifth generation. I was always keen on geometry at school and did geometric puzzles for fun, so I became fascinated by the geometric hand-railing the firm was making, tried my hand and it went from there
In the workshop working on a challenging turn in the handrail
The finished article. Beautifully crafted in a very tight space and waxed with natural beeswax.
- Website: www.shschandrails.co.uk
Beautiful post, Ferret! So good to see a little of the craftsman’s process.