Furniture and Lighting brand LayerTree is run by husband-and-wife team, Myles and Madeleine, who carefully craft their products from their Suffolk workshop. Making conscious choices is at the heart of everything they do and their high-quality and functional pieces are created using steam-bending, a low-energy, ecological technique. Their collection comprises lighting, furniture and home accessories, with most products being either customisable or personalisable.

Do you have a morning routine or ritual to get your day started on the right foot?

We wake at 5am to get a few hours of work completed before our daughter wakes up. In the winter this means crunching over the frosty grass under the star lit sky from our home to the workshop and in the summer we get to see the most beautiful sunrises and bird song. We try as best we can to balance work and family life throughout the week but starting each day with a few moments to appreciate nature and then getting some work completed before the day feels like it has really begun always sets us off on the right foot.

What are your thoughts on failure?

When you are trying to design or make something that fails your initial reaction will are always be disappointment, we think that’s only human. But on reflection we can see that it is a necessity that opens up new ideas and pathways to explore. When we come up with a new concept, the first iteration is rarely a success. But a few failed ideas down the line we are always in a better place and with a better design that where we started. The process is painful but the end result is always worth it.

As a business owner, do you know when to walk away from a sale?

We are often contacted to make bespoke pieces. Sometimes it will be for a slight variation of one of our pieces so that it can fit a unique space, an adjustment we feel doesn’t compromise on the design. If our initial reaction is that we don’t like a concept or design that is being proposed we walk away from the sale. We believe that makers produce their best work when they have the freedom to be creative and allow the ideas to come from within. If you are constrained by someone else's brief, it is never going to be your best work, and that is not something we want to send out into the world.

Working with a co-founder can be tricky, so understanding and compromise is important. How have you both found the process of building a business together? What makes it work?

It is less about compromise and more about acceptance of your skillset and theirs. We met and lived together before building the business so the majority understanding how the other person works had already taken place. Most of our friends don’t understand how we can be married and work together but we think the fundamentals of both are having an awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of both yourself and the other person. Once you have this knowledge and acceptance of your own weaknesses and the other person’s strengths you can easily work together, in support of each other and without conflict to build something truly great.

How do you set yourself apart from other businesses in your industry?

The natural path that most people take to get them to where we are is either to train as a furniture maker and build a business based on designs that evolve from what you can make. Or to come from a design background and build a business where you hire makers to create your designs. We set ourselves apart because we never intend to ‘expand’ our business in the typical way and hire people to make our designs for us. We are unique in that we are involved in every step of the process and our customers take true value in the fact that the person discussing their initial house build plans with them is also the person making those lights. There is a real connection that can’t be replicated in a scaled up business.

Any new product launches we should know about?

In early Spring we will be launching a new personalisable coat rack that will be the first product in our British Timber Range. We have been spending the winter visiting local saw mills to source a range of English and Scottish timber which will be the backbone to our exciting new range of products.

What impact would you like to have on women around the world through your business?

We would like to encourage young girls into designing and engineering as it is still a very male dominant industry. When studying Industrial Design at University the women made up approximately 5% of the course which is quite an intimidating position to be in. The balance is better within industry now but there is still a long way to go before ‘women working with wood’ is seen as a norm.

Describe your business in three words.

Honest, sustainable, purposeful

What’s the most important question entrepreneurs should be asking themselves?

Why are you doing it? The reason doesn’t matter but it is what will get you up in the morning and out into the howling rain and freezing temperatures to steam bend that new idea and keep the business moving forward.

Do you prioritise self-care as an entrepreneur?

Whilst we are combating the mindset passed down to us from previous generations that work must be ‘hard’ to be counted as work, prioritising self care is becoming more acceptable in society. We do our best to prioritise it but it isn’t easy when orders are looming and there are deadlines to meet. We have found it best to focus our self care around meeting with others or booking appointments so that we have that accountability and it actually happens. Otherwise self care becoming another thing that gets pushed to the bottom of the ‘to do’ list!

What are your thoughts on ‘no sleep’ culture as an entrepreneur?

Sleep is arguably the most important nourishment for your body; a time to heal & digest, both physically and mentally. We have found on a number of occasions that hours can be spent during the day trying to solve a problem with no solution in sight. A night’s sleep and our brains have been subconsciously figuring it out while we rest and the solution suddenly seems so obvious the next morning. We certainly prioritise sleep and find that we work more efficiently and to a higher standard when we prioritise it.