Hi, I’m Ryszard, the person behind WoodenRusticCraft.
Woodworking is my profession, but my story with wood didn’t start with a dream of becoming a craftsman. It has always been part of my working life, and in 2020 I decided to take it in a different direction and build something of my own. Before starting WoodenRusticCraft, I spent around 17 years working in warehouses, mainly as a forklift and reach truck operator. It may seem a long way from making wooden lamps and keepsake boxes, but those years taught me patience, precision, and the importance of doing a job properly.
Today, I work with wood in a very different way, designing and making each piece myself—from selecting and preparing the wood to finishing, photographing, and carefully packing every order.
The rustic style is something that has been part of my life for as long as I can remember. I come from a small town in the Eastern Carpathian Mountains in Poland, where I grew up surrounded by a simple, traditional, rural way of life: wooden houses, old furniture, natural materials, and practical, handmade things that were simply part of everyday life.
That background stayed with me, which is probably why I’m naturally drawn to wood with character rather than wood that looks perfectly uniform. I love visible grain, natural colours, knots, small imperfections, and the feeling that something has been genuinely shaped by human hands.
Although I work with various wooden pieces, two of my absolute favourite things to create are handmade wooden lamps and keepsake boxes. I like lamps because wood, light, and shadow can completely change the atmosphere of a room. I also have a particular soft spot for keepsake boxes—simple objects designed to hold things that truly mean something to someone.
For me, that is what handmade is really about. It doesn't have to be perfectly identical to something mass-produced by a machine; it should feel real, useful, and crafted with genuine care.
There is no big production line behind WoodenRusticCraft. It’s just me, my tools, and the timber. I choose the materials, shape the products, take the photos, and pack the orders myself from my workshop in Northampton, England, where since 2020 I’ve been building this journey one piece at a time.
Thanks for stopping by and getting to know a little bit about the person behind the brand. I hope you find something here that feels like it belongs in your home.