About Us

"I realised early on that my dyslexia meant that I was never destined for a desk job and found my passion during the only lesson that I really enjoyed at school - woodwork".

So I trained at the London College of Furniture for two years and The little Surrenden Workshops for one year learning the finer details of conservation work. I then started my business in 1991 at the age of 21 in the picturesque village of Shere near Guildford in Surrey.

In 1998 I married and Sabina my wife came on board dealing with the administration, bookkeeping and the design of my website.

My workshop stayed on the same farm for 13 years until June 2004 when Sabina and I moved our home, workshop and two sons to Normandy in Northern France.

I now have a larger secure workshop on our property about 35 metres from our house. It has seperate storage areas on the first floor is light and airy downstairs.

I have extended the workshop to create even more storage for veneers, wood and all the other items I need to carry out my work.

I now organise my trips back to England to coincide with several items of furniture being ready for delivery and book appointments to visit old and new customers alike to estimate on restoration work.

We are all loving the French lifestyle and I still love restoring antiques"

 

 

Read about our move to France on our Lorkin Life newsletter pages

 

 

Simon Lorkin Registered in France SIRET-481 661 981 00011

Copyright- Simon Lorkin.
All photography and copyrights reserved.


Site design and hosting

 

The boys enjoying lunch with Daddy at his Surrey workshop

The boys are already showing enthusiasm for the restoration business. Conor loves to 'drive' my van and Archie started learning about antiques early!

Conor 'driving' Daddy's Van - Aged 2

Archie 'doing his homework' aged 6 months