My nam
e is Obray Lyman, named after legendary banjo picker Obray Ramsey. I was born in North Carolina but grew up on both coasts of America. I spent much of my youth in cabinet making shops apprenticing with master craftsmen. Over the years I tried my hand at many of the trades in the family building industry and eventually worked my way up to project managing developments in Beverly Hills. I decided at this time that I would go to University to get a degree in business and upon graduating went straight into the exciting world of IT. I met my English wife in Italy in 1989 and we moved here to the UK in 1998 where I worked in London in IT. It was all a big adventure, but I quickly found myself longing for the good old days when I worked with my hands creating things that were “real.” Thankfully I was made redundant from a London dot com start-up in 2002 and went back to my passion and a simpler style of life and started a business doing home improvements, making cabinets and designing and making custom furniture for people on commission. We moved to Devon in 2005 and we haven’t looked back. I love working with wood and being part of a process where mere ideas become something tangible, providing joy and utility to people’s lives.
2017: I am now back in the States starting from scratch. I am in the beginning phases of establishing my business here in Massachusetts. Although I abode in New Hampshire, my business is based in Sandwich and much of my work has been up in the Boston, Lincoln and Concord areas.