Carving change

This week's journal is all about the women in our workshop. Today, a group of our team members shared stories with our whole company about the Sylva Foundation’s Carving Change seminar they attended in Oxfordshire last month. The Sylva event was dedicated to championing gender diversity and inclusivity in woodworking, and three Matthew Cox team members presented on the day.

Katy, a talented finisher and furniture-maker-in-training at Matthew Cox spoke about the transformational journey she’s been on over the last year, while Camilla and Greg presented ‘Do a little, change a lot’, a presentation about the power of consistent, incremental change. 

Katy’s talk included quotes from our team about the positive impact of women in our workshop. One praised women's “meticulous and hardworking approach", while another mentioned that women “improve everyone's emotional intelligence, which makes all our relationships better”. Katy also added that this emotional openness isn't just beneficial for our well-being, but beneficial for our work, referencing a 2017 study by the Centre for Creative Leadership, which found that companies with more women report higher workplace satisfaction, better work-life balance, and even enjoy their work more. 

Today, two weeks later, Katy, Steph, Georgia and Rachel stood up in front of the team to share their experiences of the talk. Hearing from the four was inspiring, occasionally shocking and incredibly moving.

We’re proud of the women who create change and pass on skills and inspiration to the next generation in our workshop. And we’re proud of our whole team for being open to new ways of learning and working every day. 

As we learned at the Sylva seminar, change is happening across the industry, but there’s a long way to go. 

Please take a moment to answer a few questions from the Sylva Foundation here and think about what you can do to ensure workshops are a welcoming place for everyone, regardless of gender.

(These images showcase the talented women in our workshop alongside their favourite pieces from our collection.)