Fergus Stuart

Joined Carpenter Oak: 2008

Interview with Fergus

What is the best project you have worked on and why?
Med Quoy truck frame in Orkney. Great frame, great location and the best jolly ever. Plover Hall reciprocal roof for the challenge

When not in the yard, what do you enjoy doing?
Saturday adventures on the hills and glens of Angus

If stranded on a desert island, which three people would you take and why?
Nate Herreshoff to build a boat and teach me how, Bob Dylan to play the tunes, Donald Trump to do the rest of you a favour (you’re welcome)

What is the most embarrassing job you have ever had?
Agency work scrubbing pots in a university canteen a few weeks after I’d jacked in my course – an existential crisis.

What music do you listen to?
6Music of an evening and on Sundays floats my boat.

What do you enjoy most about working with wood/oak?
The most sustainable material on earth and it happens to be beautiful too.

Where is your favourite place in the world?
The bothy on the wilds of Knoydart will take some beating.

Biography
Edinburgh raised, I took the conventional route to uni straight after school which didn’t work out.  So I spent the next couple of years staying up a bit too late and generally faffing about before coming across timber framing through Grand Designs.  It turned out there was a cool company just up the road, making the best frames in Scotland.  I wrote them a letter, they took a punt on me and I’ve been here ever since. Seven thoroughly enjoyable years spent on the tools – how many people can genuinely describe their jobs as fun? – then a position opened up in the office, handling sales and design, and another punt was taken (there’s a theme here).  A few more years down the line I’ve enjoyed learning another side to our industry and it’s no less fun.  The yard is well and truly home now and conveying what we’re about to those interested in us is probably the most satisfying bit of my job.  There’s a really bright future for the Scottish Yard and one I’m looking forward to being part of with a great group of people.