Campbell Paterson from Grantown on Spey in the Scottish Highlands spent ten years working offshore in the oil and gas sector, and a further three years in landscape gardening and tree surgery.

He therefore comes to us with an understanding and appreciation of wood as the basic material of fine furniture, and learning professional woodworking has been in the back of his mind for several years.

He’s been on a spoon carving course and has been whittling away for some years although, as he admits, with a limited skill set.

“I am loving the course, the tutors are great, and the students are all learning from one another.  After all, simply by being here, we all have something in common,” he says.

His long-term goal is to return to the Highlands and set up his own woodworking business although, short-term, he may stay on in incubation space at the school or find employment in Edinburgh.

Our incubation space allows graduate students to more easily set up in business, without the additional costs of acquiring expensive equipment and machinery.