Carving a career out of woodwork and superyachts 

When Andy Peters, aged 11, received a gift of some chisels from his father – he likely had no idea of the significance these tools would have on the rest of his years and career. But fast-forward five decades and Peters has dedicated his whole life to woodworking and carpentry and is the founder of Maritima Woodcarving – where he focuses solely on boats. 

“I think I have always had this combination of loving woodcarving and loving sailing boats,” explains Peters from his studio in Oxfordshire. “The two just ended up coming together.” Peters got his sea legs with the local Sea Scouts as a child and then progressed in later years to yacht delivery, sailing around the UK and the Baltic. 

Making a go of it

“Eventually I started sailing and crewing on tall ships, where I spotted a lot of traditional figureheads. At some point along the way I decided to buy a Dutch sailing barge,” says Peters. “It needed a lot of carving work, so I restored it.” 

Peters learned that ship carving used to be a profession in its own right and the realisation set him on the path that has led to his life’s work. “I started researching what was involved and just decided that I would try to keep the tradition alive. I met the last two people who were still carving in this country and decided I’d focus on ship carving.” People saw what Peters was capable of, invited him to work on their boats, and his business grew from there. 

Today, at Maritima, which has been going since 1990, he spends his days doing restoration work for collectors and museums, carving collectable sculptures and making yachting figureheads, sometimes for superyachts.

Keeping the tradition alive 

His work within the superyacht industry began 20 years ago when he was approached about some carving work. “I hadn’t aimed for the superyacht industry,” says Peters, “but it did occur to me that if there wasn’t that much work on traditional ships this was another area that you could keep the tradition alive. 

On Feadship’s White Rabbit, Peters was commissioned to design and carve relief panels totalling 38 feet in length. “I took as a theme ‘The Seven Seas’ with each panel depicting birds, fish and shells from each ocean. They were carved in Brazilian mahogany, then gilded in gold and silver leaf.”

That led to more work on superyachts, mostly from other Dutch yards. “I do maritime sculptures and decorative panels for cabin interiors, that sort of thing,” says Peters. One of his more unusual projects was carving a portrait of a client’s wife as a mermaid. Peters gets inspiration from nature but also draws from the lines of a yacht. 

“I feel it is important to create ornamentation that compliments the lines and beauty of a vessel rather than overshadowing it. This is particularly important when adding decorative work to an existing yacht, where it is all too easy for such work to appear as an afterthought, rather than merging seamlessly with the designer’s original concept.”

When work is your passion 

One of Peters’ proudest moments came recently when he was commissioned to make a new figurehead for the historic British ship, the Cutty Sark. “The figurehead that was on it was made in the 50s and after that was made they discovered an original drawing from the chap who designed the ship and it showed a slightly different figure. The 50s one was coming to the end of its life, so there was this opportunity to carve a new one closer to the original.” 

The work took about a year – a long time, but nothing compared to one of his other major restoration projects. “I was commissioned to work on Gotheborg, a replica of a Swedish East India Company ship from 1738. There was a lot of historical research involved with that one and I ended up carving on there for over five years.”

Peters is now working with a maritime museum in America looking at how to keep traditional crafts alive. “It covers everything from sailmaking to carving,” says Peters. “But there’s no point in falsely keeping this stuff alive if there isn’t an end market for it.”

In the meantime, he’s more than happy to continue. “I love what I do, I have no plans to retire.”