Made in Scotland: RCO Furniture

For the last few years we have been running our Made in Scotland blog to discover new businesses and highlight the quality of produce and craft made in Scotland. At the last Scotland’s Trade Fair in Glasgow we were very excited to find RCO Furniture whose stunning products drew us across the room to them. We chatted with Ryan, founder and maker about his exciting new business which was born in lockdown and is going from strength to strength!

 

Can you tell us how your business got started?

Quite simply my business got started during the first lockdown, I had always wanted to try making something with epoxy and wood and lockdown gave me that opportunity. The beginning was a steep learning curve with a lot of trial and error but the end results were well worth it! Since then, we have been going strength to strength, with stockists all over Mainland Scotland and the Islands.

 

Where do you look for inspiration when you are designing new products?

A lot of my inspiration comes from working with the wood in its raw form, one of the benefits of using epoxy and wood is that it can breathe new life into an old piece of cracked or burred timber which would otherwise be thrown away. These features that would usually be considered a “flaw” actually accent the piece when using epoxy, and as every piece of wood is different this makes every product unique.

Can you tell us a bit more about how you make your products?

Each RCO Furniture product is bespoke and handcrafted in our small workshop in Ayrshire, we pride ourselves on using locally sourced sustainable Scottish wood and eco Epoxy resin. We work closely with our clients to ensure the colour and wood are the perfect match to what they envisioned in the final product.

 

 

What are your most popular products and which are your own favourites?

Our most popular products would be our pebble river Tapas boards, and my personal favourite, our Charcuterie boards.

If you had to pick one place in Scotland to recommend that people visit, where would it be?

Definitely a tough question, but for myself, nothing beats a drive up to Loch Lomond on a sunny day!

Who are some of your own favourite small businesses that are Made in Scotland?

There’s an amazing local enterprise based in Irvine called Kindness and Co. who make beautiful candles and gifts.

Thanks so much to Ryan for chatting with us about his unique Made in Scotland products. We adore them and are sure you will as well! Find our more about RCO Furniture on their website or by following them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.