Lernen Sie Tom Revill kennen, Mitbegründer von Plank Hardware
From fudge to finishing touches.
Meet Tom, Co-founder of Plank Hardware. Tom started the business back in 2019 with Annie, his now wife, after having gone through the motions of buying and renovating their first home.
But Tom was walking the road of entrepreneurship long before Plank Hardware 🚶♂️
The sweet start-up life.
Whilst studying for a degree in Architectural Engineering at Loughborough University, he teamed up with two friends, also named Tom, to start a fudge company — TOMS Fudge. Duh.
Their handcrafted fudge was sold at food fairs up and down the UK, during a time at which the street food scene was experiencing a high 🧁
But that sweet life didn’t last forever and Tom eventually pivoted into working as an ecommerce consultant. Keen to learn more about the nitty-gritty of building a resilient business, Tom found himself supporting small companies that were struggling to operate online.
Getting hands on.
Fast forward a few years, Tom and Annie had bought their first home and Tom was tiring of the monotony of 9 to 5 desk work. So he pivoted again. Enjoying the hands-on renovation work — including transforming a pallet of reclaimed wooden planks into unique furniture pieces — he took out a lease on a small neighbourhood workshop, then started to create made-to-order furniture kits 🪚
Life as a craftsman re-energised Tom’s creativity and proved rewarding work, but long winter days in a freezing cold workshop, plus a tricky-to-scale product offering, meant he eventually put that one to bed, too.
It was during his time making furniture that it became apparent that hardware components — the finer details that would finesse his creative projects — were tricky to secure in trend-forward designs, at a decent quality, for a fair price. Plank Hardware was born.
Partners in business and life.
As Creative Director at Plank Hardware, Tom leads the product studio, which designs the majority of lines in-house. He also guides the wider company in understanding the big-picture brand vision.
Annie, his co-pilot and CEO, is the brain behind our business operations and driving force of our growth strategies.
To this day, Tom and Annie’s favourite pastimes still include DIY and home improvements — having recently moved into their dream home in the English countryside. They're also parents to two young children, so let's just say they have plenty to keep them on their toes when not running a scaling international hardware business 🙃
Tom knows a thing or two about:
DIY & Renovation
A maker and doer himself, Tom has endless insights on how to renovate, repair and repurpose — with budget in mind, always.
Interior Design
Whether trend predictions or material innovations, Tom has his finger on the pulse of the interior design world happenings.
Responsible Business
Plank Hardware is a Certified B Corp and carbon neutral. Tom's committed to demonstrating continual improvement.
