Meet the Expert: Jim Sharples

“Native British wood is my favourite wood,” says Jim Sharples, the expert woodworker from Backwell best known for his hefty benches built from the Floating Harbour’s old lock gates. “Knowing where timber comes from is very important to me. We have locally sourced food, local and feasible produce, yet when you look at many homes, you don’t have that as often.”

Though his locally sourced wood comes at a premium, he’s found no shortage of private and public clients interested in his unique furniture. “I’ve made completely bespoke pieces for the Lord Mayor’s Chapel on College Green, fantastic commissions of beautiful timber, fine furniture from great hunks of wood,” he says. “Knowing a piece of my furniture is in a very historic building in Bristol, knowing it will outlast me – I find that really important.”

He struggles to choose a favourite piece – or even a favourite British wood. “I’ve made various pieces from yew, which is an incredible timber. Once polished and finished, it’s out of this world. 

“But then,” he says after a slight pause, “English oak is fantastic as well, as a finished piece. For instance, a hymnbook trolley that I made for the Lord Mayor’s Chapel had a huge amount of character.” 

He waxes poetic about the purples and cream tones in elm and the olive centre of some English ash. For Jim, building furniture isn’t just about excellent craftsmanship – it’s about the character and the story of the wood itself.

Jim’s passion for wood and woodworking is clear in his voice. But though he always knew he wanted to work with wood, his career didn’t take off until ten years ago. 

“From the age of when I was in school, which is quite a while ago now, I did craft, design and technology, or CDT. But my hometown was very rural, and there was nothing to go onto after the age of 16. So I thought I’d put it aside and do other things.” 

Those “other things” included a degree in analytical chemistry at Salford University and a job as a maintenance assistant at the Hippodrome.

But after falling in love with Bristol and moving to the city in 2000, Jim received a scholarship to the handcrafted furniture City & Guilds course at the City of Bristol College. The course gave him the confidence to build his own business and begin crafting pieces in various shared woodworking spaces in the Bristol area. 

“There are so many good makers in Bristol,” he says of his fellow craftsmen. Far from being competitive, the furniture makers of Bristol offered Jim a community and guidance. “It’s about knowing people’s skills. When I get busy, I try to pass work onto other people who do similar work, and I think they’ve done that for me as well. We’re all sole traders, with some limited businesses, and we’re all just trying to do the thing we really like doing.” 

Now, he’s in a position to give back to that community by building his own communal woodworking space. Jim is currently setting up the shared space in Winterbourne. He plans to deck out a 2,000 square foot barn in Winterbourne with state-of-the-art equipment and room for four to six other makers.

“I think with woodworkers, because they need to have so much equipment, it’s phenomenally expensive to push yourself forward,” says Jim, who started out working with small machinery in his neighbour’s double garage. “The people I have in mind [for the Winterbourne shop] would be people starting out. Looking back to when I started out, if I had the opportunity to be in the best space with the best machines at an affordable price, I would have seriously considered that.”

Anyone interested in joining Jim Sharples’ shared workspace in Winterbourne should call Jim at 07786 848802 or email him at jim@jimsharples.co.uk.

Read more: Meet the expert: Paul Burton