Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

North East Now: Husband and wife duo produce woodcraft furniture in Aberdeen

Catriona and John Walker
Catriona and John Walker

An Aberdeen couple has been creating woodcraft products and furniture since starting their own business in lockdown.

Husband and wife John, 56), and Catriona Walker, 54, from Bridge of Don, launched J1W in December last year.

The couple had been eager to make the move for some time and refused to let the coronavirus pandemic tamper with their goals.

Now they design, craft and create bespoke items including resin tables, candle holders, bar stools, bowls and table lamps to suit customers’ specific requirements.

And as a local business owner, Catriona has described the North-East Now campaign as a “welcome addition” to the local area.

North-East Now shines a light on local businesses which have been significantly affected since the Scottish Government introduced lockdown measures last March.

The initiative aims to allow people to find out more about local firms operating throughout the pandemic, pulling together a range of information, directories and blogs to create a one-stop online resource.

Catriona said: “We started our business during the pandemic because we knew shops and retail outlets would be unable to display or purchase our furniture and products. Therefore, we created our online shop.

“Buying from overseas during the pandemic is more costly, and so we try and source our materials locally or from other UK businesses – this means we keep our carbon footprint as low as possible.

J1W offers resin tables, candle holders, bar stools, bowls, and more

“The pandemic has allowed us the time to focus on getting the business well-positioned, knowing our products, building our suppliers list and tailoring our website.

“Social media has been quite busy but we would like more people to visit our website.”

John and Catriona have their own roles to play as part of J1W. John produces the furniture at the couple’s home, while Catriona focuses on promotion, marketing and accounts.

“My husband makes everything at home within the garden workshop, so sometimes space is limited,” Catriona added.

“Our items are not mass-produced, they are handcrafted and the properties of the wood are completely unique.

“The pair of us also try to reuse and recycle as many different parts of our locally sourced wood as possible.

“This means other local businesses can also benefit from us sourcing their products to create our items.

Their resin tables come in a variety of colours and sizes.

“Utilising hardwoods sourced nearby and finishing them to show off their natural beauty allows us to create items that hopefully give our customers’ homes that warm comforting feeling.”

The north-east is sure to hear more of J1W in the future. And the same goes for the extensive line-up of businesses featured on the North East Now website.

It has pulled together a range of information, directories and blogs aimed at allowing people to find out more about local firms operating throughout the pandemic since launching in June.

Catriona said: “This is a really useful and informative website that is accessible, easy to explore and provides up-to-date information and ideas for the north-east public. As a business, J1W would use this on a regular basis.

“It is definitely a welcome addition to the local area as it is user friendly and provides customers with local information quickly and efficiently.

“It’s more useful to have the information pulled together in this way providing the local area with their own directory.“We have spotted many other interesting North East Now stories from small, local businesses, one being Spruce Homeware.

“On the back of that, we got in touch with them and are now working in partnership, so this has been a great success for both companies.

“Looking ahead, our main aims for J1W would be to try and reach a wider audience and showcase our products within shops and outlets when restrictions have lifted further.

“We want to create some new furniture designs and work more closely with customers too. And would love the opportunity to work with other small craft businesses and explore how our products might complement theirs.

“John and I hope to progress our business from a cottage type business to moving into a purposed built facility with the potential to hopefully employ people.”

Visit northeastnow.scot to access the hub and find out more.

For more information on J1W, visit j1w.co.uk

To share your positive business story, email stories@northeastnow.scot

This article originally appeared on the Evening Express website. For more information, read about our new combined website.