Something we love about our journal is bringing together voices from different industries that also work with natural products, encouraging us to think about the impacts of our choices in all areas of our lives. We asked Hector and Will from the Kennard Brothers what 'using UK grown timber, reclaimed materials and repurposed elements where possible' means in practice, and what inspired this way of working. Their work is beautiful, the craftsmanship and the genuine care for the materials they use is palpable:
TELL US ABOUT THE BEGINNING, HOW DID YOUR EXPLORATION INTO JOINERY/CARPENTRY WITH AN ENVIRONMENTALLY SENSITIVE APPROACH BEGIN, AND WHY?
Brothers Hector and Eddy worked together informally for a few years, before deciding to set up Kennard brothers in Bristol. Third member Will, lived with Hector while they trained as cabinet makers in south Devon 13 years ago. Half jokes were made about working together. Once Eddy had demonstrated the feasibility of going into business with Hector, Will jumped onboard fulfilling a decade long half plan.
Hector and Eddy were raised by environmentalists in rural Dorset. An interest in and appreciation of the natural world was ingrained early on in all of us. This upbringing has led to a desire to prioritise an environmentally sensitive approach in our work.
Eddy’s years spent working as a tree surgeon prior, has brought a deep knowledge and connection to timber in its natural state - as trees. This is a link that is often missing - between knowledge of trees as living things and knowledge of timber as a material to be worked with.
WHO DID YOU LEARN FROM, IF ANYBODY, AND HOW?
Hector began his career by completing an apprenticeship with Young & Norgate in South Devon, while Eddy acquired his trade by working with several different makers before eventually teaming up with Hector, allowing him to refine his skills even further.
Will completed an apprenticeship with a renowned maker, Keith Fernley, in Ottery St Mary. Will also spent some time as a draughtsman and project manager, broadening his expertise.
HOW DOES THE PROCESS MAKE YOU FEEL? HAS IT IMPACTED THE WAY YOU RELATE TO OTHER ASPECTS OF YOUR LIFE?
The designing and making that we do has an amazingly immersive aspect to it. Getting our heads into a project together is often all consuming - 5.30am wide awake thinking/worrying about rafter sizes or door proportions - but immensely rewarding for that reason. Once a complex build comes together the relief is often acute! A lie in! We think the tangible nature of our work aids the satisfaction as well. To begin the day with rough sawn boards and finish with some part of a structure or object is an achievement that is easily appreciated at a basic level. There's a very straightforward positive feedback loop which means that even on a bad day, you can fall back on the fact that something has been built or made. In terms of relating to other aspects of life, it's hard to go into any room or building and not look at how things have been put together. But more broadly, we would hope that skills necessary and honed at work - patience for example - would appear in other aspects of our life.
HOW DO THE SEASONS AFFECT YOUR PRACTICE & YOUR DAY TO DAY, NOT JUST IN YOUR WORK, BUT IN YOUR OWN ROUTINES AND PHYSICALLY TOO?
We tend to save the making and installation of larger structures, like greenhouses or timber framing, for the summer months when we have longer weather windows for installation. We've learned from experience that trying to glaze a greenhouse in the winter is not that enjoyable!
Winters in the workshop can be bitterly cold and long. The right thermals, a very good pair of socks, and a generous stack of offcuts to keep the woodburner going, makes the winters manageable. Outside of work, we all like to get outside, whether it’s surfing, climbing, or running. To balance our love for the outdoors with our work commitments, we try not to take on too much work over the summer, allowing us to spend more time enjoying the weather (in practice we always find this pretty hard to achieve).
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNT SO FAR?
We have learnt alot and we continue to learn. A big part of the interest in this type of work is that the learning never stops. Projects are most interesting for us when we are learning as we design and make. Early on in our careers we spoke about a shared desire to spend a lifetime learning and the potential enjoyment in that. The volume of things to be learnt when it comes to good design, good material choices and good fabrication methods is absolutely vast! It is great that we are in no danger of running out of lessons!
WHAT GAVE YOU THE INSPIRATION TO WORK IN THE WAY YOU DO?
As mentioned, for Hector and Eddy, partly being raised in rural Dorset by staunch environmentalists and also partly through growing up in the world as it is - where the ecosystem collapse continues apace. Hector spent 2 years working in Antarctica as a carpenter. A Lot of his work there was with and for environmental and biological scientists. Seeing wilderness of that magnitude and talking to people acutely aware of the global changes going on had an inevitable impact.
Working as a tree surgeon, combined with an enduring interest in the natural world has given Eddy a deep appreciation and faciation for the ecology and biology of trees. Championing timber as both a material to make with and as a resource to be preserved and celebrated is a source of inspiration.
Before Will retrained as a maker, he worked as a geologist for a gold exploration company in Western Australia. He was deeply troubled by the complete disregard shown by the mining industry for the fragile bushland ecosystems and indigenous lands and its people. This dissonance ultimately led him to reevaluate his career path. The opportunity to align his work with his values, and to work with wood while minimising his impact on the environment led him to the path he is on now with the Kennard brothers.
HOW DO YOU SOURCE YOUR MATERIALS?
We try to source timber as locally as possible, from sawmills and timber yards that focus on UK grown species. The interplay between a client’s budget, the design brief and an environmental approach is interesting. Sometimes these three factors align perfectly and sometimes compromises have to be made. We try to feed our interests and priorities into the conversation at the design stage. Recently we built a garden studio in the most low impact way possible. There was a happy alignment of ethos. We re-used the existing concrete as foundations and built and clad using welsh larch instead of imported softwood. We insulated it with wood fibre insulation and fitted out the interior in poplar, grown in West Dorset. Reclaimed doors and windows combined to create a building with a very low environmental impact.
For a previous greenhouse we designed the structure around some Victorian cast iron trusses. These came from a derelict orangery along with a vent opening system. The size and shape of the structure was to a large extent dictated by the reclaimed trusses. We are currently building a greenhouse around a similar system - to be able to reuse these reclaimed elements makes a lot of sense environmentally. In this vein we have begun collecting Victorian ironmongery from derelict greenhouses to use in future projects. We have recently got hold of a 6ft diameter glass dome that would look great on a greenhouse- get in touch!
HOW TRANSPARENT DO YOU FEEL SUPPLY CHAINS ARE?
One of the primary challenges of sourcing sustainable timber and timber products is ensuring that the timber originates from sustainably managed forests. There are certification schemes like the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) that provide standards for sustainable forestry, and have been adopted across the industry. It can, however, be difficult to verify compliance throughout the supply chain. Timber may change hands multiple times before reaching the end-user, making it difficult to trace its origins and ensure that it meets sustainability criteria. We combat this by working with a number of suppliers we know and trust, who scrutinise their supply chains and prioritise sourcing timber from sustainable sources. East Brothers, for example, has built up relationships with Forestry England and local estates which enables them to confidently supply uk grown timber from sustainably managed forests.
WHAT ARE YOU PASSIONATE ABOUT FOR THE FUTURE?
As a young company we are in a great position to grow our business around a model that prioritises sustainability, while also striving towards good design. Pushing the two together is an exciting future. There is a broader shift towards using timber more widely as a sustainable resource throughout the construction industry. It's exciting to be part of an industry that is looking for and undergoing change. A good example of this evolution is a timber product called Accoya (which we are using on projects this summer). Accoya is a fast growing softwood that has been treated with a non toxic chemical to dramatically increase its lifespan, even when compared against traditionally used tropical hardwoods. Longer lasting materials lead to a conservation of resources.
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