Kaori Takahashi and Mark McGilvray are the husband and wife team behind Takahashi McGil, woodworkers creating functional homewares and furniture with a distinctive style.Their company was born out of a passion for making, with the Wimbledon graduates creating simple objects for themselves before their craft became their livelihood almost five years ago. Each object, whether it be a spoon, bud vase or a coffee table, has been worked on by both Kaori and Mark, with Mark turning pieces on the lathe and Kaori using the chisel to create sublime textures. In 2018, the pair visited Kaori’s homeland of Japan to hone traditional skills such as urushi lacquering, and it’s these heritage techniques of Japanese and Western culture that have won Takahashi McGil such interest, initiating them into the Devonshire Guild of Craftsmen and becoming part of the inaugural class of Toast’s New Makers programme in 2019.