Creative collection: Hand carved wooden beauty

There weren't many female furniture makers when Carol Russell first started her woodworking career three decades ago. "I was a lone woman. but now there are lots of us," says Carol. Four years ago Carol decided to get back to basics and focus on something pure and simple, effectively downsizing her craft. "I just started playing with spoons and it was like a veil lifting," she recalls of the moment she first picked up a knife to start whittling a wooden spoon.

Asked why she does it: "I create things because it makes me happy and gives me peace. It means something to me - to make a material thing that others like enough to own or give as a gift to someone they care about," she says.