Carpenter Michael Stratton will be at the LDN COP

THE old saying that where there’s muck there’s brass is nowhere truer than in the back streets of Kentish Town, master craftsman Michael Stratton believes.

The joiner and carpenter specialises in taking discarded wood and up-cycling it to make furniture.

And this week a thrown-out desk was picked up by Michael and, with some tender loving care – he re-did the veneer using wood salvaged from a skateboard manufacturer – the desk is now valued at £5,000 and has been bought by a happy customer in Wales. Michael will be talking about his work, selling pieces and describing how to extend the life of furniture at the Tribune’s LDN Cop event at the London Irish Centre on December 9.

Michael grew up in a children’s home in Sussex and was sent on a seven-year apprenticeship by the school to learn woodwork skills.

He said: “I started work in 1955, in Winchester with a builder. We did everything, from coffin-making to joinery, the lot.”

The home noted his passion for woodwork – he would find out later that his father, grandfather and great grandfather had all worked as carpenters – and he was sent to learn the trade. He has carried on ever since.

His latest furniture project took off properly during the Covid lockdown. On his daily walks around the Alma Street area, he found useful cast-offs from building projects and put his mind to upcycling.

He said: “I start off by considering what material I have. That guides what I make.”

Living in an area where homeowners like to spend on their houses is a boon to a craftsman, he adds.

“Houses round here are being constantly refurbished,” he said. “There was one in my street that had been stripped out just four years ago, sold – and stripped out again.

“There is just so much great material around. People do not know the value of things they throw out.”

One recent piece, a set of drawers mounted on a spinning wheel from a chair, illustrates his imagination.

“There is a real pleasure to be had for creating new things from old materials,” he said.