One way to slow down the production of fast furniture is to only buy good-quality pieces from local artisans, or even better, build your own.

That’s why husband-and-wife team Adi Kamal, 43, and Aida Ihsani, 32, set-up their carpentry business Adiaida in 2015. Today, their company holds woodworking workshops as well.

The couple first met in 2014 while building a house during an event organised by EPIC Homes, a social enterprise that builds homes for the Orang Asli community.

“At the time, Adi was volunteering as a master builder at EPIC. I would meet him after work and we’d work on small woodworking projects,” said Aida, who is a law graduate.

Adi worked in IT, advertising, and the oil and gas industry for a decade before discovering his love for woodworking. “I’d spend countless hours watching YouTube tutorials,” he said, adding that Aida was more of a “hands-on” learner.

They began by building small pieces of furniture and home decorative items for family and friends, before word got around and people began commissioning woodwork from them.

So far, the couple have created woodwork for retailers as well as kindergartens. They also sell their candle holders, planter boxes and small furniture at bazaars.

And although they tend to work around the clock, they love every minute of it.

“One of our most creatively exciting projects was our one and a half-year collaboration with Jameson (Whiskey), where we built life-size mock barrels, a mobile bar with a marquee, as well as giant-sized games such as Jenga and Connect4,” said Adi.

In 2019, the couple launched woodworking workshops specifically for women, limiting the number of participants to between four to six to make it more personalised and hands-on.

“And although some of the women were initially timid and doubtful of their abilities, all of them walked out of the workshop six hours later feeling proud, happy and confident,” said Adi.

According to Aida, many of the women even bought their own tools later and worked on little projects of their own.

“We wanted them to continue the journey long after the workshop, to have the ‘DIY’ spirit and fix broken things around the home, because that’s exactly how we started out – we had zero knowledge in the beginning,” she said.

The duo also holds woodworking workshops for home-schooled children as well as fortnightly workshops for kids with autism spectrum disorder, in collaboration with their therapists.

They related how two teachers who work with special needs children in Rembau attended their workshop so that they could bring their skills back and teach their students woodworking too.

“We set up a woodworking space in their school as part of our CSR project. The kids built planter boxes, which they then sold to raise money for the school,” she said.

Another memorable occasion was when a Sabahan attended their workshop here for the sole purpose of sharing her skills back home to help elevate her community.

The couple’s ultimate goal is to create a community centre with tiny homes that people can rent. “We loved the community spirit during our times at EPIC Homes, and we hope to contribute back to the community,” said Adi.

And though for quite a number of Malaysians, their last dalliance with carpentry was during “Kemahiran Hidup” classes in secondary school, it’s never too late to sign up for a woodworking workshop that could possibly be life-changing.

“We’ll get rid of your fears, worries and inhibitions. That’s the same way we approached building furniture in the first place. If we were restrained by fear or failure, we wouldn’t be where we are today,” said Adi.

Find out more about the Adiaida woodworking workshops on their website, Instagram, Facebook and on YouTube. Or WhatsApp them at 016- 2140611.