Darren Crisp » Professional Demonstrators

I remember being in my Uncle’s workshop, I was around 8 years old, clamping a drill into a vice with a small piece of wood in the chuck, sharpening a screwdriver on a grinder and turning finials…… You’ll be please to know my methods have improved! Ever since that day, I’ve been fascinated with wood. Wood is tactile. It smells good. It looks good. It feels good. It’s amazing what you can do with a beautifully grained piece of wood – turning it into masterpiece that can sit proudly in your home. In 2010 I started to take my turning more seriously and undertook extensive formal training with world-renowned turners and in 2015 I decided to have a change of lifestyle and career from Civil Engineering to full-time Woodturner. I opened a purpose built workshop and now, my greatest pleasure is keeping the craft of woodturning alive – both through my own projects and through teaching others how to turn, passing on my knowledge and enthusiasm. I’m a fully qualified woodturning tutor, trained and certified by the AWGB, of which, I’m also the regional representative for Scotland. I’ve always loved design, having an eye for what looks good and why, and I bring this to every woodturning project I do. I’ve been very fortunate over the years to spend a lot of time training with world class turner Tracy Owen and with Master Turner Stuart Mortimer. My work is varied, covering most styles of turning, from functional items such as bowls, platters and pens, to decorative and artwork including hollow forms, goblets, boxes and spiral work. I enjoy working with texture, colour and sandblasting, sometimes combining some or all of these. I’m very fortunate to be able to follow a passion I love and work from home, family life is very important to me and having this balance is truly amazing.