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| Robin Wood |
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| Robin is an internationally respected woodturner and spooncarver. He was introduced to traditional woodland crafts whilst working as a National Trust forester clearing and replanting woodlands in Kent after the 1987 storm. |
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| He found turning bowls and carving spoons to be the perfect way to learn about the qualities of the different trees timbers and at the same time produce something beautiful and useful for the kitchen. |
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| Robin gave up the forestry job in 1995 to become a full time woodworker specialising in making bowls on a foot powered lathe, recreating the Medieval craft which had died out with the last practitioner George Lailey in 1958. |
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| Over the next ten years he travelled widely across Europe: learning from traditional turners and carvers in Romania; studying Medieval wooden bowls and spoons from archaeological sites in Russia, Germany, France and Belgium; as well as working with UK archaeologists on major collections such as the Mary Rose. In 2005 he published the definitive book on the history of the wooden bowl. |
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| Nicola Wood |
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| Nicola learned to carve spoons alongside Robin and specialises in achieving fine forms and tooled finishes. She is also a multimedia designer and researcher. Whilst studying for her PhD she investigated how computer-based resources could support craft skills learning. |
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| This was not an entirely academic exercise as she now uses the knowledge to help with teaching spoon carving courses. She maintains a web site with information to support people who have been on courses; use of tools, tool maintenance, spoon design and more. This is currently being developed into a book. |
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| Nicola also makes extensive use of video to promote Robin and her own work and achieves a fine balance between entertainment and education in a highly popular series of three-minute youTube videos. |
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