McLaughlin Furniture

General information

FURNITURE MAKER – DAN McLAUGHLIN

Dan’s surname, McLaughlin (Pronounced: Mac-lock-lin) originates from across the Celtic Sea in Ireland, where his grandfather was once an amateur furniture maker, crafting items such as a rocking horse which Dan played with as a child. Dan’s father emigrated from Ireland to London in the 1960’s and Dan was born and raised in Hertfordshire. It was here that he started to develop his passion for wood, working at a local timber yard on Saturdays and during the summer holidays whilst still at college. After finishing college, he began working as a full time joiner in Watford, before the family relocated to Cumbria, (his mother’s home county) where her father had also been a keen woodworker, transforming wooden crates into pieces of furniture for the family home, during post war austerity.

Once settled in Cumbria, Dan undertook a five year traditional apprenticeship with one of the finest bespoke kitchen and furniture making companies in Cumbria. Dan’s training focussed on the production of freestanding pieces of furniture such as: dining tables, dressers and sideboards. He also began to accumulate woodworking tools and machinery with ambitions of one day setting up his own bespoke furniture company.

In 2002 Dan visited Cornwall for the first time on holiday and was immediately drawn to the beautiful coastal scenery and relaxed pace of life. On a later visit in 2006 he met his future wife Beccy, who though from Cornwall, was then studying at university in Cardiff. Whilst Beccy completed her studies, Dan took a joinery job in south Wales for 18 months.

McLaughlin Furniture was established by Dan in 2008 after he and Beccy moved to Cornwall. Dan began to design and produce bespoke handmade furniture for local clients, initially working from a double garage in Crantock. However within 2 years Dan had outgrown this space and he moved into his current workshop in St Columb Major, enabling him to undertake larger commissions such as his part in the restoration project at Pengersick Castle. In 2013 Dan was presented with the Cornish Distinctiveness Design Award for his work on the Medieval Garden Reconstruction at Pengersick Castle.