Roots
The Beginning
sOak London was initially founded as My Hartwood in 2015 by Rob Sumner, before rebranding as sOak London in 2020. Rob was a paramedic for 15 years before deciding to follow his passion of working with wood. So he took the plunge and gave up a job that paid the bills – a decision not taken lightly!
Rob’s passion for wood and nature goes right back to primary school – creating a miniature mountain and studying the intricate beauty of moss and twigs. This begun a lifelong interest in bonsai trees. These interests grew with him into secondary school and beyond. Rob still keeps his 1st creation – a wooden table made when he was 14, in his office today.
Rob has also studied all aspects of vehicle building, which helps inform some of his more mechanical and technical designs.
Rob and the team treat every piece with great personal care. Treatments and preservatives are lovingly applied to all woods to retain the natural beauty of the timber. This enhances the grain and helps to tell each individual story of the trees in the knots, burrs and twists of each piece.
We create skilfully crafted pieces that push the boundaries of what’s possible to create with wood.
Moving Up
sOak London really placed on the map in 2016 when they created the first bar top Solera System for Zuma Restaurants and Ron Zacapa Rum. sOak London went on to create an awe inspiring display piece created from a Banksia Nut for The Artesian Bar at The Langham Hotel, London. This unique and unusual Australian seed pod contains many holes which Rob filled with a blue luminescent resin!
Over time, sOak London has formed relationships with suppliers who import timber from around the globe. sOak London always ensure that their acquired timbers are sourced sustainably and carries a unique certification number. Without this certificate sOak London will not purchase the timber. It’s this ethical standpoint that forms a foundation of sOak London.
Combined with his love and knowledge of rare and beautiful woods is Rob’s passion for creating what has never been created before. Stunning pieces that stop you in your tracks and create real wow moments. These, we hope will one day become the antiques of the future – skilfully crafted pieces that push the boundaries of what it is possible to create with wood.
“Taking inspiration from the world’s best creators of bespoke wooden furniture, from all cultures past and present. Always understated and peaceful people who tend not to shout about what they do. They are the steps I’d like to maybe walk behind one day.”
Expansion
Still a one-man band at this point, Rob’s second breakthrough piece came through Aidan Byrne’s restaurant in Manchester, UK. Rob created a cheese cavinas (trolley) out of yew and oak burr. A piece of functional art that celebrated the unusual beauty within the diseased and malformed wood. Aidan was stunned with what Rob created and the commissions have flowed in ever since.
This allowed Rob to move from his shipping container to much larger premises and build a team of like-minded and talented colleagues.
sOak London then ventured into the global market producing the 1st ever interactive Bar Top Solera System for Zuma and the Ron Zacapa brand.
Throughout the global bar industry, sOak London is renowned for its award winning Black Rock Whisky Bar – an oak tree cut in half along its length with 2 channels carved into it that holds 34l of liquor. The glass-topped, charred channels add a finish to the liquor within whilst customers sit around it – this groundbreaking creation has won numerous awards and led some of the world’s finest chefs and mixologists to collaborate with sOak London and invest in their inspiring products.
Since then, sOak London have moved into experimenting with smoking and flavouring drinks using wood. They have developed various unique methods which have found their way into numerous luxury brands and are used to elevate a simple table service to an immersive sensory experience.
Methodology
With an ingrained passion for bringing wood to life, sOak London have evolved their methods in combining the best of what nature has to offer with metals, precious metals, glass and ceramics. They specialise in creating a platform for theatre and immersive experiences in the hospitality industry.
One of the most important things in soak’s working methodology is to profile the history of the client’s brand. Rob and the team at sOak London then develop the emerging idea using a consideration for the client’s brand and showcasing their concept. From living moss trolleys and salt cabinets to exploding barrels and 12ft tall tree trunk drinks cabinets. Nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it.
5 years on, Rob and sOak London are fully immersed in the high end bar and restaurant industry. And aspire to use their acclaim and expanding success as a platform to deliver breathtaking products that echo their ethical responsibility and environmental sustainability.