Warren Turnbull’s story is one of grit, curiosity, and a deep love for making. From building his first piece as a schoolkid to founding Hutch Custom and launching the first Makers Festival South Africa, Warren has carved a path shaped by traditional craft, bold ideas, and a genuine commitment to community.
Walk into the Hutch Custom workshop and you feel it immediately. The calm of purposeful work. Timber waiting on benches. Tools lined with intention. A man who would rather spend his day shaping wood than talking about himself. Warren Turnbull is a furniture maker, yes, but he is also a builder in a broader sense. He constructs opportunities. He constructs community. And in 2025, he constructed the most ambitious maker gathering South Africa has ever seen.
Warren fell in love with woodworking as a school kid. While everyone else drifted between subjects, he found a home in the woodshop. “I absolutely fell in love with it,” he says. “That was everything I lived for.”
But life took him away from it for years. Seven years in the UK. A return to South Africa. A new commercial fabrication business with his wife. Timber stayed in the picture, but not in the way he longed for. Particle board. Superwood. Big builds for big brands. Necessary work. Not creative work.
Eventually, the window opened. A small workshop of his own. Time carved out between commercial deadlines. A chance to make furniture the way he had always imagined. Slowly. By hand. For the joy of it. “Being able to be creative, think up something, and just go downstairs and start building it,” he says. That is his fuel.
Hutch Custom was born from that desire. A place where he could express himself without mood boards or client revisions. A place where the piece starts in his mind, not in a brief.
“I normally just visualise it and start building. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it does not. But that is the beauty of it.”
Hutch Custom furniture is clean, confident, and deeply handmade. Every curve, every joint, every surface comes from time at the bench. Warren uses as few power tools as possible. Imperfections are not failures. They are reminders that a real person made this.
Warren selects every board himself. White Oak and Walnut are favourites. Their stability, grain, and performance over time make them central to his process. His style blends clean mid-century modern lines with softer organic curves. “Mid-century modern has always influenced my work, but I like bringing it into today with subtle curves and texture,” he says. The result is refined modernism with warmth and character. Furniture that feels lived with, not just looked at.
“A piece should serve its purpose effortlessly while still making a statement.”
His pieces feel solid in the best way. Not heavy. Honest. Built with long-term use in mind. Built to age well. Built to live.
Warren’s workshop is a family space. His kids love being there, and their excitement adds a simple kind of joy to his workdays. For Warren, having them close to the process is grounding and reminds him why he does what he does.
The workshop remains the place where he grounds himself.
“For me, the workshop is a decompression. I can switch off. I can think about nothing else but the corner of that piece of wood lining up with the other corner.”
The work restores him.
Warren is shaping more than his own brand. He is shaping a movement. Makers Festival South Africa, held for the first time in November 2025, was his idea. His push. His vision. A festival built to bring woodworkers, blacksmiths, ceramicists, leatherworkers, and DIY makers into one shared space.
It had never been done in this country. Not at this scale. He did it anyway.
The festival sprang from his belief that makers deserve connection, visibility, and community. That people should meet the hands that build their world. That skill is worth celebrating. That craft needs space to breathe and grow.
This is the heart of Warren. He wants to build more than his own business. He wants to build a culture of makers who lift one another up.
Warren is entering a new chapter. For years, he balanced commercial manufacturing with fine furniture. Today, with the commercial side running almost independently, he is now effectively full time on Hutch Custom and building the brand with intention.
He’s rethinking how he works, creating limited editions rather than one-off pieces. This lets him repeat certain builds, save time, and keep the quality high. “If you make ten of something, you can make ten sets of legs at the same time,” he says. “It brings the price down and makes it more achievable for people.” The aim is not rarity. The aim is well made furniture that more people can afford.
He is also focused on growing the Makers Festival into an annual event and strengthening the network of craftspeople it brings together. The road ahead is full of momentum and purpose.
Warren Turnbull builds with honesty. He shows up. He works hard. He lifts others as he moves forward. He reminds us that creativity is not a solo act. It is a habit, a choice, and often a leap made stronger by the people beside you.
- Website: hutchcustom.com
- Instagram: @hutch_custom
Makers Festival South Africa
- Instagram: @makersfestival_sa
