Stange Kraft

There is something about the feel of wood, and that is a connection that Uwe Stange has never neglected. He is the epitome of a hands on businessman, examining every plank that enters his premises. It may be fashionable to agree, but that does not change the timeless connection that wood engenders with both environment and history. “No matter how you source your wood, no matter at what stage you engage with the material, wood still speaks to you as a living thing,” says Uwe, the founder and master craftsman behind Stange Kraft. Uwe’s origins, like so many in Scotland’s thriving Livingston new town, just outside Edinburgh, his roots are from elsewhere. No family heritage for him in Lanarkshire or Glasgow, like so many of his neighbours. Uwe is from a little further afield, reaching West Lothian from Germany, by way of Namibia and then later South Africa. Stange Kraft is based in West Lothian, Scotland but we are more than happy to work through-out the United Kingdom. Right from the raw materials, we’re constantly checking a whole host of parameters. Sure, it’s possible to make comparisons here, between this workshop and an artist’s studio, but there are no discarded canvases hiding in the back room. Everything commissioned is everything we build. There’s no waste.” We’re not producing lifestyle choices, we’re crafting lifetime choices. The pieces we make here are invariably part of the fabric of the home, and they’ll be there as long as the building exists, almost without exception.” Fit for a president, in fact. There are already a privileged handful, who are proud to show off their Stange Kraft originals, and ebullient enough to share the secret too. We are, if you like, the antidote of flat pack, pre-packaged standardisation. Stange Kraft is no sapling business, as Uwe has honed his craftsmanship in a previous enterprise, Universal Joiners.