March 26, 2019April 24, 2019

A MUSICAL TRIBUTE TO THE CARPENTERS

On Monday 25 March, the joiners made their singing debut on the BBC’s popular current affairs programme, The One Show.

The shows production team approached the workshop and asked the team to feature in a short film sequence. The clip shows the joiners, singing one of The Carpenters best-loved songs ‘Top of the world’.

The purpose of the song was to pay homage to the American music icon, singer songwriter, Richard Carpenter. Richard recently released a new album featuring The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, which has already gone silver.

The film features a medley of The Carpenter songs, performed by various companies across London, including: the London Zoo keepers, Wandsworth Town Library librarians, New Broadcasting House postal workers, and lastly, the Falkus Joinery joiners.

When scouting for locations, the production team were searching for unique locations that captured the essence of London. The shows producers stated they ‘when they came across the joinery workshops brightly coloured graffiti wall, they felt that a group of joiners/carpenter, performing to Richard Carpenter, would be an ideal way to end the clip.

Although our joinery talents, are predominantly in woodworking, and should probably remain that way, we were thrilled to be a part of the fun. You can catch our performance, along with the full interview with Richard here.

If you would like to discuss bookings for future musical performances, we’re now available for birthdays, weddings, and bar mitzvahs. Only joking, we’ll stick to the woodworking for now.

August 15, 2018October 2, 2019

14 OF THE MOST COMMONLY USED TIMBERS FOR PRODUCTION

There are 60,065 species of tree in the world. However, only a fraction of this is used for production.

Discover the most commonly used timbers and their properties with our handy downloadable infographic

SOFTWOOD

Redwood (pine)

This yellowish-white sapwood and reddish heartwood is one of the most widely used timers in joinery and is suitable for all types of interiors and exteriors.

Whitewood (spruce)

This yellowish-white sapwood and reddish heartwood is one of the most widely used timers in joinery and is suitable for all types of interiors and exteriors including flooring, structural use and cladding.

Southern yellow pine

This striking timber is a dense wood that has a reddish brown huge and distinctive grain it is great for heavy structural use and and is perfect for window boards,stair stringers and decking.

Hemlock

Hailing from N. America this fine textured timber is pale with a pinkish-brown colour. It’s malleable qualities makes it a good wood to work with and is therefore used for moldings, stair parts, kitchens, bedrooms and shopfitting.

Douglas Fir

From N. America is clear, this straw coloured and moderately durable softwood is best for both internal and external use including flooring and and structural use.

Western Red Cedar

This highly durable, N American timber can be used internally and externally without preservative treatment. It is widely used for cladding

HARDWOOD

American Ash

Is a light-coloured grey/brown hardwood with a course texture. Due to it’s lack of durability this timber is best used for internal for things such as handles.

Beech

This creamy timber has excellent blending properties and turns a reddish-brown colour when steamed. Do its qualities it’s most commonly used for making furniture.

European Oak

Is a course yellow/brown wood with good durability. It has medium movement and is susceptible to iron staining. Used for cladding, flooring and decking.

American White Oak

This tight-grained hardwood comes in range of shade from a pale straw-to-pale red. Due to the strength of the timber it is often used flooring, decking and heavy structural work.

American Tulipwood

Slightly durable making it perfect for furniture and decorative joinery. It’s yellow/brown colouring and fine texture makes it perfect for interiors.

Sapele

This tropical hardwood from West Africa, has a pink to red colour, with medium texture and movement. It is however difficult to treat but is used both internally and externally.

Dark Red Meranti

A Malaysia, red, tropical hardwood, is often used for furniture making due to its attractive colouring and medium texture.

Iroko

Is a West African, light-brown hardwood that is highly durable, making it suitable for external as well as internal use and sometimes used as a teak substitute.

May 9, 2018August 15, 2019

HAVERING COLLEGE: WORK EXPERIENCE AT THE JOINERY

This morning the joinery was joined by two of Havering College’s brightest students Joe Hill and Stanley Kappes, for work experience at the joinery. Both boys are currently in their first year of the carpentry and joinery course and are already making waves.

Joinery is often thought of as being old hat and so we were thrilled to hear that so many young people were still enrolling in their hundreds and were eager to learn the trade and make a career of it.

Work experience workshop challenge

Over the course of the day, we wanted to give the boys something that they could really sink their teeth in to, so we set them to work on one of our latest projects, but before we got them started we wanted to find out more about them and their views on joinery. Here’s what they said:

Why did you choose to do carpentry & joinery course?

Joe: I first got into joinery because of my brother; he’s a few years older than me and a qualified quantity surveyor and having heard all about his career and opportunities that were open to him, it really sparked my interest.

Stanley: Similarly to that, I also had a family member introduce me to the trade. My dad owns a plastering, window and doors company, and so for the past couple of years, I’ve been helping him out with the fitting. From working with him it became apparent that there are lots of challenges involving a lot of skill, and with that came a lot of opportunities. I realised then that this career path could open a lot of doors for me so when I saw the course I jumped at the chance.

What excites you about joinery?

Joe: For me, I’ve always really enjoyed the design element and figuring out how everything fits together. I was really lucky at school and had a great teacher who was always encouraging me to do more and explore all aspects of joinery and everything that that entailed. It was through him that I started working and experimenting with CAD to develop my skills. I’ve also started working on sketch up in my spare time, which is great because it’s so simple to use.

Stanley: The thing I love is working with my hands and the sense of achievement you get once you’ve finished working on a project. I’m not much of a designer, but I can read the drawings to a high level and am really enjoy learning about the different processes, materials, veneers and finishes.

How do you approach new processes?

Joe: I’m always really interested in the research side of things, for example, today we’ve been tasked with recreating a mace stand, so for this, I’ll look at lots of other/similar stands to get a feel for them and try to figure out the most effective way to build them.

Stanley: I’m more of a visual guy and like to try and think about the structure and how it might all piece together. However, I’m happy to admit that I’m still very new to the industry and luckily I’m surrounded by so many people who have years and sometimes even decades worth of experience under their belts. I’ll always try to make a process my own, but I’m always willing to listen and learn new ways of working.

Where do you see your careers going?

Joe: As I mentioned before, I really enjoy the design side of things so ideally, I’d like to work on the floor for a number of years and perfect my trade. Once I have a good grasp of things I’d like to work in the office as a designer and then who knows. The great thing about this industry is that you can constantly develop and grow into new fields. As long as you have a core understanding of how things work, I believe that it can really take you far.

Stanley: I’d really like to go into management. Once I finish my course I want to stay on and do the level 3 management course to help set me up for the future. It’s difficult to know where my career will take me, but I feel lucky knowing how many opportunities are out there and what could be.

What do you think the future of joinery is?

Joe: sometimes it’s daunting when you hear about joinery firms going out of business due to a lack of funding for new machinery and nowadays it seems that a lot of people are buying IKEA furniture as a short-term solution. But for me, I feel that joinery focuses more on the high-end more robust products and if you look around woodwork is everywhere. People are always going to want to handcrafted bespoke items, but there’s another element too in terms of restoration and heritage joinery too.

Like most industries, there will need to be a period of evolution in terms of trends and technology, but I firmly believe that there will always be demand for this specific skill set.

Stanley: To add to that, I also believe that consumers really love that products are handmade as there’s a real skill and charm that goes with it. It’s also way more personal and special. Yes, you can buy cheaply made IKEA furniture but those items are designed to be quick fixes that will only last you a couple of years. We’re building quality pieces that will stand the test of time, therefore we’re quietly confident that joinery is here to stay.

We hope you enjoyed this article as much as we enjoyed writing it. If you’re currently enrolled in a joinery or related course and would like apply for work experience in the joinery. Get in touch.

February 22, 2018August 15, 2019

THE GROTTY PEOPLE TAKE OVER THE WORKSHOP

Famed for its trendy pop-ups, street art, and food markets, Shoreditch has an undeniable appeal, which draws the crowds. Falkus Joinery took up residence in this trendy part of town in the late 70’s and after four decades, we’re still proud to call 14 Anning Street, home.

In order to pay homage to this unique part of London, we set out to try and capture the essence of the neighborhood, by opening our doors and inviting in two very infamous graffiti crews, The Rolling People (TRP) & Team Grot Bags (TGB), to spray paint our workshop in an attempt to bottle some of that Shoreditch magic.

A local touch

Our aim was to try and bring some of the outside in, but also to establish a creative space for local street artists to use as they wish to create an on-going piece of art that evolves with the times.

We hoped that by bringing the vibrancy of Shoreditch into our workshop that it would serve as a daily source of inspiration and a reminder to inject a sense of fun and personality into everything we do.

The artists

Deus @whatthedeus [TGB]
Kev [TRP]
Krooks – @jamiekrooks [TGB]
Brk – @brk192 [TRP]
Stevn @vents137 [TGB]
Snoe – @snoeone [TRP]
Hero image by Steven Mosk via Template Monster (copyright-free)

February 22, 2018July 19, 2019

CELEBRATING 60 YEARS OF EXCELLENCE

This January marks Falkus Joinery’s 60th Anniversary as joinery manufacturers and industry leaders. Established by the Jerram brothers in 1957, the duo set up shop in Shoreditch and built a lasting legacy. This family run business has grown from strength-to-strength and to this day remains at the fore front of joinery innovation.

The London joinery has stood the test of time and we believe that’s due to the workshops unwavering passion for joinery. Our fierce investment in people has developed a strong family culture and a dedication to responsible purchasing has safeguarded sustainability. This careful consideration leaves us feeling confident that we’ll continue to uphold this long-standing trade and thrive.

Today, Falkus Joinery works across a wide range of joinery sectors, and specialises in:

Bespoke kitchens
kitchen cabinets and doors
Skirting
Bathroom joinery
Vanity units
Commercial office fit-outs
Bleachers
Custom made staircases
Handmade furniture
joinery fittings

Bespoke doors
Sash windows
Staircase manufacture and instillation
Custom made reception desks
Wall paneling
Bespoke wardrobes
Office furniture
And everything else in between

A brief history of Falkus Joinery

Founded by the Falkus family as an independent joinery manufacturer, the company prospered and were therefore looking to expand. When meeting with the Jerram’s it was agreed that it would be mutually beneficial to merge companies and expand their collective business offerings.

For both companies a successful partnership ensued over the decades which has allowed the collective to thrive and expand into new sectors. Today the Jerram Group is comprised of four divisions: Jerram Falkus Construction, Falkus Joinery, Jerram Development and Jerram Falkus. As a croup we’ll continue to develop with the times and provide high-end construction and joinery service to the UK.

Take a journey through the decades and discover our combined history with the Jerram Group. We hope that you find this just as interesting as we did.

The future

Looking back it’s clear to see that we’ve come a long way and we’re thrilled to see that traditional joinery is a trade that continues to flourish in this increasingly digital age.

It’s difficult to see what the future has in store for our joinery manufacturer but we look forward to what may come and to celebrating the next 60!