Twisted Eye

09 August 2025

A story of discovering a new direction and crafting with soul.

In the wake of personal loss and a year that reshaped life’s priorities, Sharon and her husband Oli now create handcrafted furniture that blends skill, playfulness, and a dash of contemporary boldness.

From their studio in the Gloucestershire countryside, here’s their story.

After 25 years working in the TV industry, on shows like Come Dine with Me, Gogglebox and Bargain Hunt, when the world slowed during Covid, I saw the opportunity to do something different.

I’d dabbled in furniture making and restoring and wanted to do more, but never had the time as the TV world was so all consuming. But with time on my hands as work dried up, I enrolled on a City & Guilds furniture-making course not thinking at all about how it would work when everything went back to normal. I just knew I couldn’t sit around and wait!

But things were never going to be ‘normal’ again.

That summer, we shockingly lost my stepmother of 30 years, I went through a miscarriage, lost a friend, and our 14 year old cat was killed, all in a matter of weeks,

I was heartbroken and overwhelmed with grief. Furniture-making gave me focus, and a much needed creative outlet and I quickly became obsessed with the craft. The events of that time also really hammered home how fragile and easily lost, life can be and I didn’t want to waste another minute.

I’m at peace just being in the workshop.

I’d spent years watching and filming other people living and doing interesting things but I realised I wanted my own life, not just to observe others from the side-lines. Also, as I’d climbed the ladder in TV, I’d found myself spending more time navigating egos and politics than actually doing anything creative. So over the 2 years of my training, the idea for Twisted Eye was gradually born – We were going to create beautiful, handmade hardwood furniture that doesn’t take itself too seriously and is as rooted in interior design as it is in craftsmanship.

After I finished training, I set up my own workshop and spent a few years undertaking restorations and bespoke commissions for clients, while experimenting, designing and prototyping for the first Twisted Eye collection, Vibrant Rustic, which was launched in 2025.

It’s still early days, but it’s me and my husband Oli, a TV editor who often works as a sort of apprentice on orders! We also have skilled makers and friends who help when needed.

The workshop is on a small family run industrial estate in the Gloucestershire countryside.

Outside is a fishing lake, a church, farmland, and trees. We feel really fortunate to have found it as it’s really beautiful and laid back.

I’m at peace just being in the workshop. It’s set up exactly how I want it, with everything I need around me. I know exactly where everything is and where it should be. I can close the door, put music on, dance around while working, and the day disappears.

For calm, I love the finishing process, putting dye or finish on the wood, layer by layer. Turning legs on the lathe is one of the most satisfying and relaxing things too. I start at nine and suddenly it’s lunchtime; it’s easy to lose hours there.

Twisted Eye is about skill in craft, playfulness in design, and bringing a little personality and joy into homes.

We want to make solid wood pieces that can stand on their own or sit alongside antique, vintage, or modern furniture- built to last with a bit of contemporary attitude. I rethink proportions that challenge the eye and carefully consider how pieces will be used in the home. The designs start as rough sketches, then we make prototypes that evolve by hand based on how they look and work in real life, not CAD drawings made in a factory.

Oli and I live in a Victorian workers cottage in the Wye Valley and we wanted colourful, quality furniture that wasn’t painted and pieces that were traditional with a twist so I decided to make them myself and that’s what the first collection Vibrant Rustic is all about.

Colpop is an industrial style design, hand-dyed with the wood grain highlighted in gold, paired with powder-coated cast iron legs. It uses a 14-layer finishing process to get the effect and protect against everyday use.

Cityfarm is our take on classic farmhouse style, updated with unique hand-turned legs, interesting proportions and brass dowels fitted one by one.

Each Twisted Eye piece is made to order by hand from certified sustainable timbers. We try to source materials locally and use British-made products whenever possible and seek out small businesses for anything that we can’t personally create. We’re always experimenting with new ideas, materials and finishes to push things forward, both aesthetically and in terms of sustainability.

We try to source materials locally and use British-made products whenever possible.

There have been some incredibly tough days, meltdowns in the workshop or car, so many sleepless nights, wondering what I was doing! It’s been literal blood, sweat, and tears.

The first couple of years starting the company was isolating and I was at times very lonely and I’m not ashamed to admit that self-doubt often overwhelmed me. You wonder if you’re kidding yourself.

Fortunately, My husband Oli’s unwavering help, support and belief in what we’re doing and in me and some great friends having absolute belief in us kept me going.

I also knew if I could pull it off, it would be incredible for our life and the reality is, nothing was as bad as the summer of 2020 and despite the ups and downs, I’ve never been happier or felt more like myself since becoming a full time furniture maker/business owner.

Even on the worst days, I want to keep doing this because I love the process of designing and making furniture. It matters to me, and I believe we’re building something worthwhile and I can’t wait to see where we can take it. Also I get to design and make furniture whenever I want, how fabulous is that?

The photoshoot with all the first prototypes together was a real high for us – we’d done it! We knew there was a long way to go, but I’d designed and made the beginnings of the brand with my own hands.

Launching the website to friends and family was huge: two and a half years of hard work – designing, prototyping, building, photographing, website building, all unpaid and squeezed between commissions and restorations. It was a labour of love, and even though I’d had a vision of how it would look and had worked towards that, I had no idea if anyone would get it or even care, but they did. The kindness and encouragement meant more than I expected.

And of course selling the first piece of Twisted Eye furniture was incredible. We didn’t believe it at first – I even had to check on the desktop after putting my phone down to make sure.

Our values:

Craftsmanship – We value doing things properly, with skill and care. Every piece is handmade, solid, and built to last.

Creativity – We’re driven by a desire to make beautiful furniture designed to challenge the ordinary and offer something a little different.

Sustainability – We believe in responsibility to the planet and future generations. That means sourcing materials thoughtfully and making furniture designed to avoid waste. Sustainability is something we are aware of, at every stage from design to delivery and beyond.

Community – Supporting and working with other makers makes for a much more fulfilling day to day experience.

Continuous Improvement – We believe there’s always room to get better. We don’t settle or rest on what we’ve done; we push ourselves to learn, experiment, and evolve.

We’re focused on expanding the brand in the next couple of years with more furniture designs and accessories that will have a bit of a twist to them. We want to work with different people and experiment with different materials. We’ve also got an interesting, slightly unexpected collaboration planned.

We really want to build a brand and business that has a culture of decency, integrity and experimentation, in every aspect. A company where people enjoy the process and can take pride in their work. And we want to make sure we don’t compromise our values as we grow.

For me personally, I feel that it’s only been in the last few years that I’m finally living life to it’s fullest and I want to continue and enjoy that, while making beautiful furniture and living my wonderful new normal!

IMAGES ©Twisted Eye 2025

Thank you Sharon for sharing your journey with us. In an industry so often focused on trends, it’s inspiring to see bold furniture made with such heart and personality.

Do you have a founder story to share? We’d love to hear from you.

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