European Oak
Quarter-sawn for stability and grain figure. Our default for kitchens, dining tables and library shelving.
About BriqFlow
A small workshop with very few rules.
We don’t make catalogues, we don’t do flat-pack, and we don’t outsource. What we do is build furniture slowly, in the hope that you’ll never have to think about it again.
Our Story
BriqFlow began at one bench in 2009.
Founder Iona Reeve started the studio in a Bermondsey arch with a single workbench, an old planer-thicknesser and a phone that mostly took messages. Most of those first jobs were friends-of-friends — a kitchen here, a fitted wardrobe there.
Seventeen years later we’ve grown to three benches and a small team of seven, but the rhythm hasn’t changed: site visit, sketch, sample, build. We still take on no more than nine commissions at a time so that every piece stays under the same hands from first cut to final hinge.
Our workshop is in a converted print works on the Hackney/Walthamstow border. You’re welcome to visit by appointment, smell the timber and see what’s on the bench.
Working Principles
Four things we always do, even when nobody’s watching.
- Use solid hardwood backs and shelves. Plywood substrates only where movement actually demands it.
- Hand-finish every visible edge with a card scraper, not a belt sander.
- Pre-finish drawer interiors and shelf undersides — the parts you only see while reaching.
- Photograph each piece on the bench before it leaves, for the archive and for the client.
Materials We Work With
A short list, kept honest.
We’ve narrowed our timber list to the species we know intimately. If you arrive with something off this list, we’ll happily source it — but we’ll be honest about what we’re still learning.
American Black Walnut
Chocolate tones that mellow over time. We use it most in wardrobes and statement media walls.
English Ash & Sycamore
Pale, light-reflective species for smaller rooms. Often paired with painted carcases and brass.
Stone & Brass
Carrara, Calacatta Viola and locally cast brass for handles, sleeves and feet that age gracefully.
Visit the Bench
Best way to know us is to drop by.
Most Saturdays we open the workshop to people who’ve booked. Bring a tape measure, ask anything, leave with a wood sample or two.