Island Life Magazine Ltd February/March 2011 | Page 143

island business

Island Life - February/March 2011

Luke's work
is always a
real pleasure
Not too many of us look forward to
Monday mornings so we can get back
to work. But Luke Ratsey, who runs
Ratsey Bespoke Furniture from his base
at Northwood Business Park, relishes
the prospect.
Luke became a cabinet maker around
seven years ago, claiming he found
his ideal career purely by accident.
He says: “Strangely enough I look
forwards to Monday mornings and
getting back into my workshop - not
that I leave it much over the weekends.
I have always been the hands-on type,
and as much as I love books and music
I’m more comfortable elbow deep in
interesting messes of different types of
wood, tools and machines.”
Educated at Chichester College, Luke

said: “I think I was
rather lucky that I
went to that college,
simply because we
were allowed to
make whatever we wanted, as long
as it fulfilled a certain criteria. For
example, if we had to make a table it
had to be so big with so many drawers.
This was also where I was placed third
in a nationwide competition, run by a
popular woodworking magazine, with
a hall table I made in my first year.”
In business Luke holds to the same
ideals he did in college and before,
namely ‘quality over quantity, quality in
material, tools and craft over quantity
of product’.
He added: “All my timbers are bought

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on the mainland from suppliers I know
and trust and all come from approved
and well managed forests. I’m a firm
believer that we have to care for what
we have now if we wish to enjoy it in
the future. In all my furniture I stick to
tried and tested joints like mortise and
tenons, and dovetails, rather ‘quick
n’ fix’ mechanical joints like screws.
This may take longer but my saying is
the pursuit of perfection is time well
spent.”
See website: www.ratseybespokefurniture.co.uk. Tel: [phone]

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