‘We mould trees to grow into the shape of chairs’

Gavin said the first seed for the project was sown when he was a young boy and saw an overgrown bonsai tree that he thought looked like a chair.

The idea grew when Gavin was in and out of hospital with Klippel-Feil syndrome – a rare congenital condition characterised by the abnormal fusion of two or more neck vertebrae.

He underwent several operations to straighten his spine during his youth, when he said he had time to “reflect and learn patience”.

“It was only after doing this project for a few years, a friend pointed out that I must know exactly what it’s like to be shaped and grafted on a similar timescale,” Gavin said.

After leaving Chesterfield College, Gavin had a period of making furniture in California in the US by stitching driftwood together, which he said was what showed him he could grow trees into useful shapes.

He and Alice then set up Full Grown in Derbyshire back in 2006.

They met when they were 17 and remained friends for a long time. After the pair had stints abroad, they became a couple and set out on their journey together.

Gavin, who has a background in furniture creation, is described on the business’s website as the designer behind the project, while Alice is listed as the communications director.