John produces a wide range of products which include dressingtable mirrors, hand mirrors, bowls - both decorative and useful, cheeseboards, small occasional tables, traditional games, candle stands, table lamps, wooden fruit and a variety of small items such as light pulls and bottle stoppers.  His first love is chair making and to add to this skill he is currently attending upholstery classes so that he can add yet another string to his bow.

John Theobald moved to Cornwall in October 1971 from his family home in Brasted, Kent.  Having spent all his working life in and around the motor trade he took up wood turning as a hobby in 1986 and sold a few small pieces at craft fairs and exhibitions.  In 1997 he and his wife moved from mid-Cornwall to Delabole in North Cornwall with a view to a career change at some time in the future.  After an unexpected period of ill health John took early retirement and embarked upon a career as a professional woodturner.  The market was researched and his work offered to galleries run by the Cornwall Crafts Association who accepted a selection of items and displayed them at their galleries at Trelissick and Trelowarren. Sales proved to be good, demand grew and the orders started to roll in. Other outlets followed and he is currently supplying The Cry of the Gulls at Fowey, The Silver Tree at Tintagel as well as being a member of the Guild. He is always happy to take on commissions and gets some very interesting, and sometimes unusual, orders which he endeavours to complete by the deadline no matter how busy he is at the time.  Examples of his work can also be seen in Truro Cathedral, the chapel at The Royal Cornwall Hospital, Treliske, St. Peter’s church, Mevagissey and the churches of St. Piran, Perranzabuloe and St. Michael’s, Perranporth.  John also receives orders from the National Trust from their central distribution depot in Wiltshire from where the items are sent to the National Trust shops as far apart as York and Dorking in Surrey.