About our journey

My Granddad Alan, used to work in a noisy, smoky factory as a machinist… He loved his job and the banter in the factory, his motto in life was always: “Do a job you love and you will never work a day in your life” - Grandmas was: “have fun and be happy”. I have always tried to remember and live out these sayings.

As a child I spent a lot of time over at the Grandparents in the workshop “helping” and as I grew up it seemed clear a creative path was the only option, anything academic sent me to sleep. I needed to be using my hands.

I took a degree in design down in the big city, this gave me a plethora of experiences along with some fantastic friends. London is a truly a place to be young and carefree. To this day I’m not sure what to do with my Bachelor of arts degree… It’s now just a fairly expensive piece of paper.

I returned to the countryside and to my village, where people say hello when passing and life is slow, I prefer it this way. I used to find myself often walking around Hampstead Heath in North London just to get back in nature and sit with the trees.

I was offered a job in I.T which I took, being fresh out of uni and with nothing else to do. Still finding myself I had a great but short career as an I.T bod, my contract came to an end just as I reconnected with a couple of old friends from school. Woodworking along with campfires and drinking beer became a hobby among friends, I felt like myself and I knew for sure I was having fun and being happy, now to do a job I love so as it doesn’t feel like work…

We went on to create some fairly basic furniture, candle holders and placemats and took them to market, the reception was good and working with wood seemed to embody all of my life experiences everything I loved seemed to point center. I had a strong vision of a business and lifetimes work ahead.

I went solo as is often the case in business and my cocker spaniel, Mortimer became CEO. Mortimers Workshop was born.

My aim with the workshop is to make furniture and homeware I am truly proud of, I care deeply about sustainability and personally try to never buy to throw, I believe in longevity and find beauty in nature on a day-to-day basis. I love unique timber and the variety of uses epoxy can be applied into modern, well designed, functional and well built furniture.

I love my work, what I do and the people I meet. I can hand on heart say that there is no distinction between “work” and pleasure, I feel lucky to be able to create for a living and can’t wait to talk to you about your designs and home furnishing aspirations.

Have fun and be happy - Sheila Richardson 23/12/1939 - 20/06/2022

Do a job you love and you’ll never work a day in your life - Alan Richardson 26/10/1939 - 21/11/2022

Thank you for reading,

Jordan (Founder)