Family carves out a niche in home design

Jan 26 2010 by Hannah Davies, The Journal

HANNAH DAVIES speaks to a group of local artists who are defying the economic downturn with their new family business.

JAYA and Dougie’s terraced home in a remote village in the Durham hills is a hive of activity.

Two-year-old Loanan runs around while his grandfather looks up a 70s French rock band on You Tube.

Dougie is explaining his latest piece of hand-carved elm furniture while Jaya discusses her work in after-school arts clubs.

Jaya Cauchy, 31, and her partner Dougie Ogilvie, 38, are parents to Loanan and Iona, aged four, who is at school. Didier, 58, a French artist originally from Bourges in central France, who emigrated to Durham in the 1970s, is Jaya’s father.

Together they have formed Elephant Tree, a business to showcase all of their talents.

“It made sense for us to come together as we all work closely anyway and our work is interrelated,” Jaya explains.

Dougie is a furniture craftsman from an artistic background and his father-in-law trained in wood sculpture and has been commissioned by a number of community groups and schools across the region. Jaya is a painter and has also curated exhibitions across the region. She is behind the family’s website.

She adds: “Didier takes Loanan on a Monday so I have some creative time for myself. Dougie works in a workshop in the garden. It is all very much a family venture.

Dougie is leading the furniture-making side of the business. He was born in Edinburgh but his family moved to Staffordshire when he was three.

He’d always been interested in drawing and painting but it wasn’t until he did a history project for school he started seeing it as a career move.

He adds: “I did my project on a local manor house and I asked the owners if I could draw their house for the project.

“I ended up spending far more time on the picture than the rest of the project.”

After leaving school Dougie went to London for a year to pursue a interest in architecture as “the firm’s dogsbody” he laughs. After a year he decided he’d had enough and went to work on oil rigs for three years.