Whilst studying for a degree in Architectural Engineering at Loughborough Uni, he teamed up with his two pals, also named Tom (really), to start a fudge company — TOMS Fudge (no, really). Their handcrafted fudge was sold at food fairs up and down the UK, during a time at which the food scene was experiencing a high 🧁

Fast forward a few years — to a similar time at which he bought his home with Annie — and Tom was tiring of the monotony of 9 to 5 desk work. So he pivoted again. Having enjoyed the hands-on work of renovating their property — including transforming a pallet of reclaimed wooden planks into unique furniture pieces — Tom took out a lease on a small workshop in a nearby neighbourhood, 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.

And what exactly is that vision? Plank Hardware aims to inspire creativity through its responsibly-made, transformational design details, for interiors around the world 🌎 Just watch this space.