A Plymouth-based craftsman has spoken of how he swapped the busy corporate life for building bespoke tables, to help overcome his traumatic childhood.

43-year-old Charles Williams, the founder of By Charles, left behind the high-pressure world of project management in 2011 after forcing himself out of his comfort zone.

“I had quite a traumatic childhood, one where there was no praise and very little love,” he said, “This left me with some emotional hang-ups but also installed energy inside and with this an amazing creative flair and a desire to validate myself as a worthy human being.

“For some, this would seem shocking, but this was a period in time where teachers were allowed to physically discipline a child and domestic violence was quite common. For me, I was given quite a thick skin, something I am truly grateful for.”

For Charles, being in a high-pressure job looking after contracts worth as much as £11 million was tempered by the therapy of building bespoke tables from scratch.

“All of a sudden my job (making tables) became my therapy and my sanctuary,” he said, “I had the project management role for many years but built the tables in

“The thick skin I developed from my upbringing gave me confidence, and as time went on I discovered that how we force ourselves to set a path that is always pulling us from our comfort zone is the greatest development plan we could ever make. For me, it has always been about validation, taking action and validating who I wanted to be.

“Every time I pursued the next stage of my career and reached my next goal I could feel the sour childhood memories erode. Our greatest growth from times of our greatest pain and I took the project management role to be near businesspeople and learn from them to build my own better.”

Charles explained that when a customer trusts him to build them a bespoke table, it’s at that point the process of overcoming any trauma begins, with validation, creativity, peace and love for creating something special kicking in.

“It’s like therapy, but I get paid,” he said “To me, great design is practical. It starts with breaking things down to their simplest form, finding the straightest line from A to B.

“Anything superfluous makes me feel uneasy. I frequently have heated debates on how things can be done better with less stuff.”