Elm Serving Bowl

Your wooden products are made from natural materials, so they require a little TLC to keep them looking their best. 

Wood naturally wants to absorb moisture. For this reason, keep your wooden items out of the dishwasher and avoid submerging and soaking in water. To wash, use a damp cloth and mild detergent, and dry straight away.

These are coated several times with food-safe oils, but these coatings do dry out with use. All wooden items will need re-oiling over their lifetime to keep them looking and performing their best. You'll notice when your item needs re-oiling - the surface will go matt, the colour will lighten and it will have started to lose that 'richness' we love in wood.

Care: Wipe with a damp cloth and dry, do not soak. We use a food-safe wax for buffing and shine when the pieces become dull. 

Selwyn House is formed by Sean Best and Ellie Smalls, who met while studying Fine Art at Leeds Arts University. Always drawn to making things, Sean bought a second-hand lathe and began teaching himself woodturning. An all-consuming obsession for understanding and working with wood followed, and after making the move back to Ellie’s home county in 2017, they formed Selwyn House, combining their creative talents to create small-batch handmade server ware and homeware from the best British-grown timbers they could get their hands on. 

All the wood used for Selwyn House pieces is exclusively from trees that have grown in Britain. Most wood is bought from small independent sawmills, which either manage woodland around them or buy directly from local tree surgeons. The wood is milled and air-dried at these sawmills for a minimum of 18 months before it even comes to the workshop. Working in small batches means they are able to source more unusual and characterful pieces of timber to work with and adapt designs to make the most of the wood.

For many of the turned bowls, the tree itself has been taken down by Sean and slowly air-dried in the workshop. By working from tree to finished piece the wood is carefully used to its maximum advantage and any wastage is kept to an absolute minimum.