Inside the studio making sculptural oak vessels that the design world can’t get enough of
Woodworker Barnaby Ash is carving the handles of one his most ambitious pieces yet: a 70cm-tall, round-bodied vessel inspired by a Greek psykter wine cooler, with four ring handles that resemble those you might find on a 17th-century bronze cauldron. ‘What we do is very much focused on translating ancient archetypes into a contemporary context. But we borrow elements from lots of different pieces,’ explains Barnaby, who, along with his husband Dru Plumb, runs Ash & Plumb from a barn in the rolling South Downs, not far from Lewes.
Like all of their sculptural wooden vessels, the entire piece – including the handles – has been turned and carved from a single piece of unseasoned oak. ‘There are other woodworkers that do this, but we have pushed the concept to quite a crazy level,’ says Barnaby, with a grin. No surprise, then, that since they launched the company in 2020, Ash & Plumb pieces have been shown at galleries including Hauser & Wirth Somerset and Flow gallery, W11, and annual art fairs such as Eye of the Collector and Collect Open.
They came to the world of craft after working in other industries – fashion for Barnaby, PR and events for Dru – and met in what might now seem like the unlikely environment of a watch fair in Basel. Dru was on his company’s stand and Barnaby, then fashion director at Short List Mode magazine, was reviewing new designs.
Six months after getting together in 2013, they headed to Dru’s home country of Australia and, alongside their day jobs, began experimenting with small business ideas, including fermented drinks and granola. ‘We knew we wanted to do something together,’ says Barnaby. It was not until they moved back to Brighton in 2017, however, that Barnaby started to explore woodwork. ‘T’d fantasised about it for a while, but it was only when we had a house and needed a table and some shelves that I actually started.’ he savs. He learned the basics through books and YouTube, but it was when a sculptor friend introduced him to wood turning that he found himself hooked.
To start with, he was turning functional pieces like bowls and cups on a lathe in his garage, but soon had the itch to experiment: ‘I knew I wanted to make sculptural pieces, but I needed Dru’s help getting them out into the world.’ Dru formally came on board when they launched in 2020, having helped out for a while before that, honing ideas and scouring the market for what was already out there. That is largely how their responsibilities are split today: Barnaby is the maker and drives the concept: Dru refines the ideas and reacts to what Barnaby creates. Much of this is through Dru’s photography and a skilfully curated Instagram account, which has over 87,000 followers. Dru also puts his own mark on the vessels, stitching up cracks that appear in the wood during the making process.
