MEET our the team in the design studio
THOMAS
I have been coming to Poetry in Wood for possibly 30 years now. I go every week to Old Spitalfields Market on a Wednesday to sell the products we make here at Poetry in Wood. I live just round the corner and i like walking in my area.
My favourite part of London is Stratford because it has lots to see and do. I like going to the market every week because i like seeing how the stalls change through the seasons just like my drawings.
I am one of the founding members of Poetry in Wood’s Design Studio. I am great at precise drawings, mosaics and signage. I also have a very unique illustration style.
My favourite tool in the workshop is the Fretsaw because i can cut precise things on it. This year I’d like to gain more woodwork skills. The greatest thing I’ve ever made here is my underwater landscape.
GARY
I live in Hackney near Wells Street and I live with my parents. I enjoy having dinner with them every night. I love the neighbourhood because of the great parks which i can play frisbee and badminton in.
Here in London my favourite place to visit is the art gallery Tate Modern which we visited last summer. I’d also really like to travel to Southend this year to go on the rides, i’m a thrill seeker!
I collect costumes and the most precious thing i own is my collection of Jason masks. I like spooking everyone by impersonating Jason from the film Friday the 13th.
I love using the fret saw and the sanding machines, tracing my favourite drawings and burning them onto wood. The best thing I’ve ever made here is my Freddie Mercury microphone stand which we use for karaoke at our parties. This year i’d like to have a go at making a model of a cement mixer.
LEANNE
I live in Limehouse and I love it there. I love the neighbourhood and I have great neighbours, I also love going to Victoria Park. I have been coming to Poetry in Wood for 17 years. I love London and I also love visiting Brighton. I love the sea and I love the sunshine, walking on the beach and I think everyone loves to eat Fish N Chips when they visit.
I’ve never been to Spain and I’d really love to visit Barcelona. My family have recommended it to me, and one day I will definitely visit.
I love playing computer games and I spend fun times on my Playstation 4.
My favourite product, at Poetry in Wood, is our monkey. Monkeys are great fun and have great characters. I’m really good on the fret saw and I love drawing and painting. In the future I would love to improve on my general design skills.
ROBIN
I am Robin and I have been at Poetry in Wood for 15 years and I live just around the corner from our studios with my family. I love the parks and gardens in London and one day I would like to visit Turkey.
I have many hobbies and pastimes and I love watching sports my favourites being bowling, cricket, dodge ball, volleyball, badminton, table tennis and baseball. I also like cake decorating and knitting.
At Poetry in Wood I love using the photocopier, cutting wood, burning and painting and I am very good at portraits, I also like dogs and flamingos. My favourite tool is the pillar drill and I also like adjustable spanners.
I’d love to be able to sell more of my work and have an exhibition someday.
SALIH
Hi I’m Salih I live around the corner from Poetry in Wood with my family and I have been coming to Poetry in Wood for about 10 years. I like Mile End Asda but my favourite place in the world is Chessington World of Adventures. Poetry in Wood is my favourite place that I go to but I also really like Apasen. My favourite possession is my mobile phone as it keeps me in contact with my friends and family.
At Poetry in Wood I like using the hammer and the drill I’ve loved the ukulele project that we did in training I also like painting but I think my best skill is writing stories.
One day I would like to work in a shop behind the till getting involved with money and change.
DEBBIE
I have worked at poetry in wood for 7 years and I live nearby on Old Ford road. I love living there because it’s close to one of my favourite people, Caroline from Arts for All. My favourite place in to be in London is Poetry in Wood because i’ve got lots of good mates there.
If could anywhere in the world i would go to Devon because they’ve got lovely shops for buying jumpers and really tasty fish and chips. I’d like to take everyone at poetry in wood there!
Wonga is the most precious thing to me but i also love making picture frames and love hearts out of wood to give to my friends at poetry in wood. My best skills are drawing, burning and painting and my favourite tool is the paint brush.
One other thing you should know about me is that i love the colour pink!
CHRIS
Hi I’m Chris and I’ve been at Poetry in Wood for 4 or 5 years and I live with friends and staff round the corner and it takes me about 10 minutes to walk there. I love St James’s park in central London and I spend time at Create day centre and id love to go to the Tate Modern Art Gallery on the river.
At home I collect things to arrange together and I make still life drawings from them. My favourite thing about Poetry in Wood is coming in every week doing some drawings and meeting my friends. I love the things we make here especially all our painted and pyrographed decorated work. The fret saw is my favourite tool and I love how easy it is to cut the wood.
I love how everyone achieves their goals at Poetry in Wood and how we all earn certificates from the completion of our work.
TRACEY
I have worked at Poetry in Wood for about 15 years and I live with my mum on the Isle of Dogs. My favourite place in London is Canary Wharf and Stratford shopping centre.
I love animals and I would love to travel to Australia to see the wildlife reptiles and snakes. I love to watch TV and movies and my favourites are Horror films, especially zombie films.
My favourite thing to do in Poetry in Wood is burning, mixing colours and painting, and I love making frogs. I also love meeting corporate volunteers and showing them what we do and how to use the tools. My tool I like the most is the sanding disk because it tidies everything up really easily and I really want to make a lot more flowers.
ELAINA
My name is Elaina and I have been with Poetry in Wood for a long time, about 16 years now I think. I live in Poplar with my Mum and travel about by bus, especially around the river at Canary Wharf.
I have been to the Caribbean and I would also love to travel around the Greek islands. I really enjoy telling jokes and having a good time I also enjoy listening to Alexander O Neil and my favourite television is Family Fortunes.
At Poetry in Wood I enjoy working on the computers and sending emails and making birthday and greetings cards, I love all of our flowers and we make lots of chickens. I am also really good at burning mixing paints together to make new colours and I love making neat and tidy products.
KAMIL
I’m Kamil and I started at Poetry in Wood in 2019 firstly in the training workshop and then I moved to the design studio shortly before lockdown. I live in Poplar with my family and I love being near the park. Id love to explore more of the London parks and I enjoyed our meetings in Victoria Park and playing badminton; one-day I’d love to travel around Europe.
I have been collecting Hot Wheels die cast cars since I was young and I have about 40 of them all still in their boxes.
I love using computers drawing, tracing and making wooden objects. I recently made a snake and ladders board and I made 8 brightly coloured Mexican Day of the dead skulls for our market stall where I work every Wednesday. I was at most of our lockdown zoom sessions and I loved our activities especially mixing drawings of animals up. I loved my Giraffpanzee.
I love the tools at Poetry in Wood especially the fret saw and the sanding machines, I am looking forward to learning new skills and finding out the other things that I am good at.
ALI
Hello my name is Ali and I have been working at Poetry in Wood for about 12 years and I live very local in a flat in Shadwell. My favourite place in London is Leicester Square. I love going to Bangladesh and I’d really love to visit Saudi Arabia.
I love walking about London and I like to read the papers and keep up to date with the news.
At Poetry in Wood I love using the fret saw and painting and I am particularly good at using the pyrography equipment, or burning as we call it. I love decorated jewellery and CD boxes. As I said before my favourite tool is the pyrography but I love my work to be as neat as possible.
STEPHEN
I’ve been coming to poetry in wood for 5 or 6 years and i like taking the number 50 bus here. I live with my mum and I really like her cooking. My favourite thing about coming to Poetry in Wood is going to Spitalfields market to set up our stall. I love trying out all the different cakes and donuts from the other stalls.
If i could go anywhere in the world i would go to Hong Kong because i love the buildings and the transport systems. They are my biggest inspiration for my large cityscape drawings.
My most precious possession is my mobile phone because i love playing games on it, especially Street Fighter ii The New Challengers.
My favourite tool in the workshop is water, I like to use watered down paints to colour my cityscapes. My best skill is my drawing but also just being myself. This year i want do more bigger scale drawings.
SADIQUER
I’ve been working at Poetry in Wood for nearly 10 years now and I live nearby with my sister in Stepney. It’s great living with my sister because she cooks delicious food for me and i have a nice room i can hangout in and play my video games. My PS5 is my best possession.
My favourite place in London is the bowling alley in Westfields but i also love the cinema. If i could go anywhere in the world I would go to Istanbul because i really want to try the food there.
The product I’m best at making is Pokemon character badges and keyrings. I’m skilled at both painting and burning but most of all i like to entertain the class. My favourite tool is the hammer.
This year i’d like to work on a case or tv stand for my new IPAD. I also want to work on swearing less in front of my peers.
ELVIS
I started working in here in 2016 and i live nearby in Commercial Street. I like where i live and i enjoy cooking at home for myself. There are a lot of friendly and supportive people in my area. I really love going on long walks through Hackney and Dalston is my favourite place to be because it’s lively and multicultural.
If i could go anywhere in the world i would go to Jamaica to visit Kingston, Ocho Rios and Montego Bay. I like the warm sun, good food and sea breeze.
The best things i own are my artworks that I made here at poetry in wood. I like doing Jamaican landscapes on wood and i’m particularly good at making flowers in my own unique style. I have been told they look very real!
My favourite tool is the fretsaw and the rotary saw. This year i would really like to develop my sign making and lettering skills.
CLIFFORD
I’ve been working at Poetry in Wood for 4 years as a workshop assistant. My favourite part about working here is that i get to support and help people with their woodwork creativity and ambitions.
I live by myself next to Kew Bridge station and i enjoy living by water surrounded by flora and fauna and in particular the birds. My favourite part of London is definitely the the river Thames.
If i could go anywhere in the world I would go to Mexico to look at the Mexican Pyramids. My most recent adventure however, was climbing Mount Toubkal in Morocco, the highest peak in the Atlas Mountains.
The best thing I’ve collaborated here on is the sign for St Leonards Priory park. My best skill is facilitating teamwork and my favourite tools are the bobbin sander and fretsaw. This year i would like to achieve a sustainable long term future for Poetry in Wood.
MICHAEL
I’ve been a workshop assistant at Poetry in Wood for going on 10 years. I commute from Shefford where i live with my wife and son. It’s a nice area and I’m local to my friends and family.
My favourite part of London is Greenwich park but if I could go anywhere in the world I would go travelling in Australia. When asked what my most precious belonging is I would say most definitely my son.
My favourite poetry in wood activity is drawing and painting and the best things I’ve made here are friends and commissions. My favourite tools are the Fretsaw and the Pyrograph.
I’d like to see many more years of great works at Poetry in Wood.