OUR STORY
IT STARTED IN A SHED.
After a lifetime working in the building industry and with timber, Mike Wells retired and started carving rocking horses in his garden shed. It wasn't long before people began asking him to make other things. One job became another, the little shed became a workshop, and AJ Joinery began to grow.
More than 26 years later, we're still here in Cockfield, just outside Bury St Edmunds. The workshop may have changed, and the things we make have certainly become a little more varied, but we're still a small, independent family business at heart.
Today AJ Joinery is run by the next generation of the family alongside our small team of skilled joiners. We make bespoke timber joinery for homeowners, builders, architects and businesses, from individual pieces and unusual one-offs to windows, doors, staircases, kitchens, fitted joinery and complete projects.
Small has always worked for us.
We have never wanted AJ Joinery to become a production line.
Being a small workshop gives us the freedom to be flexible. A single replacement piece is just as welcome through our door as the joinery for an entire house. We can make something traditional, something contemporary, reproduce something that already exists or tackle the awkward job that doesn't quite fit into anybody else's catalogue. Every job matters because, quite simply, that's how this business was built: one job at a time.
Rooted in Cockfield
Cockfield has been our home for more than two decades, and when it came to giving AJ Joinery a new identity, we wanted it to feel as though it belonged here.
Our wolf is inspired by the legend of King Edmund and the wolf said to have guarded his head after his death. It's a story woven into the history of nearby Bury St Edmunds and, for us, the wolf represents loyalty, strength and protection.
Our roots are firmly in Suffolk, but our work travels much further. Wherever the finished piece is heading, it begins here in our Cockfield workshop. Still making things properly.
A lot has changed since Mike first started working from that garden shed. We have modern machinery, a much bigger workshop and more than a few years of experience behind us. But the important bits haven't changed. We're still family-run. We're still independent. We're still happy to make one. And we're still happiest when there's something interesting waiting to be made.