Belfast man quits job for own business creating art with foraged wood

Dylan Godhania had always wanted to work in a creative role and after developing a love for woodworking on top of his life-long love of art, he recently took the plunge and started his own business.

Under the name Bark and Bones, he creates bespoke eye-catching pieces of wooden furniture and art works from his base in North Belfast. His pieces are made from materials he has foraged to keep a connection to the natural world, and hark back to the world of our pre-historic ancestors.

It all started with antlers he painted for his own home, when after he received interest and compliments in the item, decided to focus in and start his own business.

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Speaking to Belfast Live, Dylan said: “Before this, I was a goldsmith which sounds like a creative and exciting job, but you can’t really express yourself in the way you would like to. I was doing woodworking on the side for family and friends as a hobby, and people were showing a lot of interest in it. I thought it’d be great to do something like this for a living.

“I had to think what I could do to make it a more unique business, and at that time I’d been really into researching history and the past, looking back at cavemen and early humanity. I think at this point, everybody wants to get back to their roots a bit and away from all the technology and madness of the world, they want to get back to nature a bit.

“You hear of more people wanting to get out hiking and camping, and I think because of my interest in those things as well, I had started painting onto antlers and things thinking that’s something I would do for my own house. I thought it was such a niche thing nobody would have any interest in it.

“But everybody coming into the house instantly liked it, and that’s become a big item of interest in my business now. It’ll often be in the style of cave art designs found around the world.”

The inspiration from nature is found in all parts of his work, including in the name Bark and Bones, with bark representing tree bark and bone for the antlers he turns into art.

Dylan said creating his pieces helps him feel more connected to nature and history. He added: “People didn’t just want furniture or didn’t want me just making what everyone else is making, they saw the unique twist I’ve put on it, and they like it as much as I do. They feel the connection to nature, and you’re taking the outdoors and bringing it inside.

“But since I was a goldsmith, I have an eye for leaving in just enough to make it as natural as possible, but at the same time, you still have an item in your home that feels like a high quality piece of furniture or art.

“Being able to take inspiration from work like cave art which is everybody’s culture and everybody’s history, it feels very powerful to me. Even using the same pigments and colour schemes that would have only been used back then.

“Most of us don’t realise our whole island is just full of such ancient history and we’re so blessed to have it right there. We basically have Stonehenge’s all over the place that we don’t really acknowledge or see, everyone’s local area has that history there, but it isn’t always clear to see.

“The idea when a storm comes through and a bunch of trees get blown down, like during a recent storm, I went and collected that wood to be used for the project. That’s the descendants of the trees our ancestors were surrounded by years ago. It feels very important to know where we’ve come from.”

When it comes to taking the plunge and working for himself, Dylan said it has been unbelievable, and the positive feedback he’s received has been highly motivating.

He said: “I’ve always painted and drawn all my life, I used to draw on my lunch breaks at work, so to be now where people are actually buying my art is amazing. For years, I was always thinking of that as a possibility and for it to happen just out of the blue and to have more and more people showing an interest in it, it’s very rewarding.

“I wanted to take the risk on the business, I’m at the point now where I’ve got my house in the past year or so, I wasn’t content with my previous job and thought this is the time to take risks, I’m young, I’ll go for it and give it a try. I got a lot of support from people around me and was more motivated to get out and do it.

“It feels very surreal to wake up and do something I would normally do at the weekend for a hobby, it feels surreal that if I put my head down this will be my life and what I’ll make my living on. It’s very motivational for me to imagine what the future would be.”

You can find out more about Bark and Bones by clicking here.

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