Wren & Ash
Furniture makers · Welsh borders · est. 2014
Furniture made from trees we can point at.
Two makers, one workshop in the Welsh borders, working in native oak, ash, elm and cherry from woodland within forty miles. Every commission is drawn, made and delivered by the same two people.
The catalogue — twenty-four pieces
Everything we have made since 2021, with the tree it came from.
Nine commissions a year, no more. Where a piece shares a tree with another, we have said so — a bench and a table from the one Cwmcarn oak.
2025
Refectory table
2.8m
Pippy oak from a wind-thrown tree at Cwmcarn
2025
Dresser base
1.6m
Brown oak from a hedgerow tree at Llangattock
2025
Six dining chairs
seat 460mm
Ash from Coed Cefn
2025
Writing desk
1.4m
Cherry from an orchard at Wormbridge
2025
Blanket chest
1.1m
Elm from a churchyard tree at Grosmont
2024
Library bookcase
3.2m run
Oak from Trelleck
2024
Console table
1.8m
Olive ash from Llanthony
2024
Window bench
2.4m
Oak from the same Cwmcarn tree
2024
Bedside pair
480mm
Cherry from Wormbridge
2024
Kitchen island
2.2m
Brown oak from Skenfrith
2024
Round dining table
1.4m dia.
Ash from Coed Cefn
2024
Wardrobe
1.9m
Elm from Grosmont
2023
Coffee table
1.2m
Burr oak from a wind-thrown tree at Tintern
2023
Eight dining chairs
seat 460mm
Oak from Trelleck
2023
Hall settle
1.7m
Oak from Llangattock
2023
Chest of drawers
900mm
Cherry from Monmouth
2023
Refectory table
3.4m
Oak from Tintern
2022
Sideboard
2.0m
Ripple ash from Llanthony
2022
Desk and shelf run
2.6m
Elm from Raglan
2022
Nursing chair
seat 420mm
Ash from Coed Cefn
2022
Dining table
2.0m
Cherry from an orchard at Wormbridge
2021
Fitted pantry
2.8m run
Oak from Skenfrith
2021
Low bookcase
1.5m
Brown oak from Trelleck
2021
Trestle table
2.4m
Ash from a wind-thrown tree at Usk
We buy standing or wind-thrown trees, mill them ourselves, and air-dry for three years before anything is cut. There is a board in the rack now that will be a table in 2029.
The rack, tree by tree
Six trees, and the year each one becomes furniture.
Oak
Cwmcarn
Wind-thrown in the February gales. Pippy through the butt.
Felled 2021
In the rack until 2024
Ash
Coed Cefn
Standing, taken for dieback. Straight and pale, olive at the heart.
Felled 2022
Ready now
Elm
Grosmont
A churchyard tree the parish had to take down. Wild figure.
Felled 2020
Ready now
Cherry
Wormbridge
An orchard grubbed out for a new planting. Short boards, deep colour.
Felled 2023
In the rack until 2026
Oak
Skenfrith
Brown oak, beefsteak fungus through two of the four butts.
Felled 2024
In the rack until 2027
Ash
Usk
Riverside tree, undercut and leaning. The board that will be a table in 2029.
Felled 2026
In the rack until 2029
How a commission works
Four stages, and you are welcome at all of them.
01
We visit and measure
We come to the room the piece will live in, measure it, and look at the light. No charge and no obligation — it is the only way to get proportion right.
02
A drawing and a fixed price
A hand drawing at a proper scale, with a fixed price against it. Nothing moves until you are happy with both. The price does not change afterwards.
03
Timber selection
We pick the boards out of the rack and lay them out. You are welcome to attend and most people do — it is the part where the piece stops being a drawing.
04
Twelve to twenty weeks, then delivery
The two of us in the workshop, no subcontracting. We deliver and install it ourselves, in our own van, and take the packing away with us.
Detail plates: the joints, and the room they were cut in.
Plates i & ii
Plate i — through-dovetail, oak
Cut by hand, sawn to the line and pared, no router jig. Finished in hardwax oil, not lacquer. It will mark, and you can fix it yourself with a cloth in ten minutes. That is the trade and we think it is the right one.
Plate ii — the bench room
Two benches, one bandsaw, a rack of moulding planes that came with the building. Every piece in the catalogue above was made standing at one of these two benches.
Prices, honestly banded
Dining tables from 4,800. Chairs from 1,150 each.
Bookcases and fitted work from 6,500. Deposits are a third and are refundable until the timber is cut. Delivery anywhere in England and Wales is included in the price.
Dining and refectory tables
Solid top, drawbore or wedged frame, any length to 3.6m
from 4,800
Chairs and benches
Steam-bent or joined, seat woven or shaped, priced each
from 1,150
Bookcases and fitted work
Scribed to the wall, per run, including fitting
from 6,500
Casegoods — chests, dressers, wardrobes
Dovetailed throughout, drawers hand-fitted
from 3,900
Deposit
A third at drawing stage, refundable until the timber is cut
one third
The wait, and why it is that long
The current wait is about seven months. We will not take more than nine commissions a year, because ten would mean hiring someone and then it would not be our work.
If that is too long, we would rather say so now than rush a piece. We will tell you the true date at the drawing stage and we have not missed one yet.
Start a conversation about a room.
Tell us the room, roughly what it has to do, and when you would like it. We will answer within the week, and if we are not the right workshop for it we will say who is.
The workshop, Llanfihangel Crucorney, Monmouthshire
Visits by arrangement, most Saturdays. Bring the dimensions of the room.