Festival of Hobbies - Woodworking (Featuring Johnny Tyson of Fallen Giants)

“It did actually start as a hobby. Going way back, my dad was a bit of a handyman so I used to help out now and then in his shed and garage.”

In a ground floor unit of Harland Works (quite aptly itself a former knife works), Johnny Tyson works tirelessly to create beautiful and unique furniture with one main goal in mind; to reclaim the best discarded timber and re-purpose it into bespoke pieces, while keeping waste to a minimum.

Fallen Giants, Johnny’s company, has established itself as one of Sheffield’s most creatively unique independent makers - not easy in a city known for it’s makers!

But why use reclaimed wood? Johnny explains, “The best quality wood comes from old trees. As these are (quite rightly!) often protected, this material is no longer readily available in today’s timber yards. Therefore, the only reliable source of beautiful, old growth timber is to use reclaimed materials. As reclaimed wood tends to be older, it is more stable and results in stronger furniture. We also enjoy making intriguing features of reclaimed timber’s ‘imperfections’, such as cracks, screw holes and saw cuts. Also, of course, you don’t have to cut down any more trees to harvest reclaimed timber – which is always a good thing.”

Johnny elaborates “A quick example would be that we've just been making a coffee table for a lady who inherited a dining table but already had a dining table, so we cut this one up and reused the timber to make a coffee table. Mostly we do commission stuff like that, but I do just make things to sell…and quite often quite a lot of them end up in my house!”

Johnny’s mission statement is certainly a large part of what makes Fallen Giants so appealing and individual, but what makes the business and the furniture so beautifully idiosyncratic is the mark of the maker, metaphorically etched on to every piece - a love for woodworking that goes way back to childhood.

“It did actually start as a hobby. Going way back, my dad was a bit of a handyman so I used to help out now and then in his shed and garage. We used to make stuff and I got into woodworking that way. Eventually I went off to university didn't do any for ages and I really missed it, until I finally got a flat that had a shed and so I got back into woodwork in that way - just doing a little bit in my shed”.

 “…So I went down to Dorset and built a boat - the theory being that if I can build a boat I can build anything, which is sort of true!”

From being a boy, tinkering in his dad’s shed, to making woodworking his career, Johnny has certainly taken some detours along the way. After his o-levels, Johnny didn’t pursue woodworking in a professional capacity, instead opting to turn his hand to creativity of a more digital fashion.

“I was working as a graphic designer in London. I then lost my job, some other things happened, and I thought why not try and turn the woodworking into a career? So I went down to Dorset and built a boat - the theory being that if I can build a boat I can build anything, which is sort of true!” Johnny laughs.

“I built a 14 ft sailing boat in the end, which is actually quite big. After that, naturally, I worked in some boat yards in the Lake District and in Suffolk and eventually I ended up back in London where I met my wife. She lived in Sheffield and so I moved here in 2009. But there's no boat building in Sheffield, strangely enough. I found that out quite quickly. So I turned my attention to furniture, starting off in a friend’s shed to what is Fallen Giants today”.

During his time as a graphic designer in London, Johnny admits that he did miss woodwork. “I really like making a physical object. I used to work a lot with computers, and the technology became so complex that I could no longer deal with it. It was all too abstract.”, he says. While creativity was a trait that was prevalent in both lines of work, it seems that working with wood provides a satisfaction that graphic design can’t.

“There’s something about making a physical object that exists within in the world - it's really satisfying that you built a thing and it's there and it will probably last forever...within reason of course. There's a lot of satisfaction to be had in that. Also, sometimes you get some really nice compliments and you get a little ego boost - is that a bad thing to say?”, Johnny laughs. “People will look at that you've made and say ‘Oh wow! That's amazing!’, but the truth is that you probably got it wrong 4, 5, or 6 times before that finished product. It's always nice to make things for people and get to see their reactions. It's often quite a personal thing and when they love it, it’s really rewarding. I've got a lot of repeat customers now which is nice.”

“You can be sat there working away and suddenly you look at the clock and a few hours have sped by”.

Like many who have dedicated a lot of time to perfecting their hobby, and especially those who have loved it enough to pursue it as a career option, Johnny speaks of the benefits that having a hobby can have on your mental health.

“Hobbies are great for your mental health. I think it’s a bit like meditation. I’ve got a number of friends who are into rock climbing. It seems mad to me, but when I ask why they do it they tell me it’s because when they’re climbing, they don’t think about anything else. All your worries and other thoughts disappear because you’re so focused. I suppose it’s what artists and musicians call ‘getting in the zone’. I find the same thing when I’m doing something creative, like drawing. You can be sat there working away and suddenly you look at the clock and a few hours have sped by. The same with woodworking. It’s always healthy just to be interested in something”

I asked Johnny what advice he would give to those interested in woodwork, and what it takes to make something you love something that you can make a living from. He laughs and admits “maybe not the way I did it!”

“If I were to do it again, I think I’d try and get an apprenticeship under my belt. Start somewhere that you're interested in and just sweep up or make the tea. Do whatever you have to do to get some experience first of all”, he says.

“You’ve also got to have the bravery to show people your work. It’s difficult, but you have to get over that. When something is a hobby, its private and you can keep it to yourself and that's fine. When it’s a business, you need to learn to open up and take the critique - the positive and the negative. That’s the difference.”

Johnny also notes the importance of getting stuck in and giving it a try. “The best thing that you can do is just have a go. Really, it's just practice, as with anything. There is skill involved - you need good eyes and persistence and patience - but the rest is just practice. Get it wrong and try and again. That’s how you learn.”

While space can be an issue and quite prohibitive for people who are wanting to get involved with a hobby like woodworking, Johnny also points out that there is always a work around. “At Portland Works, just around the corner from Harland Works, there's a workshop called Sheffield Hackworks that you can use. It's got all the tools and machines. You don’t have to be confined to a shed anymore!” Sheffield Hackspace is a non-profit, member-run hackspace for central Sheffield, that allows people to come and try out different tools and technologies all in the name of creating something. If you’re interested in going along, you can visit their website here.

So what’s next for Johnny and Fallen Giants?

Johnny says that while he loves working on bespoke commission items, he would also love to create a complete range that is uniquely Fallen Giants. “I’d like to produce a range of ready made items that all exist within a series. Something that could be made reasonably quickly and efficiently that lasts. It would be nice to have a fallen giants range as well as the commissioned items”. 

“Also, another mission that I'm on with the company is a way for people to get around the throw away culture. For example, if you look in skips you'll find a lot of stuff from IKEA that’s just broken. It’s cheap chipboard and eventually it gets weak and it breaks. I believe in buying something that is quality that lasts, rather than something more cheap that you have to replace two or three times, so I’d love to work that into the range.”

You can visit Fallen Giants at Harland Works, or on their website here.

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