Norwegian Jeanette Aurdal runs The Oak & Rope Company

CANTERBURY (Aftenposten): Almost every day, Jeanette Aurdal’s company receives a new order for a swing. Much of the credit should go to a picture of a three-year-old prince.

The surroundings could hardly be more English: narrow roads and green meadows. And in a small depression in the terrain is a brick house.

Jeanette Aurdal lives here with her English husband, a total of four children and a dog.

A swing that barely moves in the wind is the only thing that gives a hint of what she is working on.

– When I was six I wanted to be a carpenter, and I learned to splice rope from my grandfather when I was ten. But when you’re good at school, no one helps you become a carpenter.

A 40th birthday many years later would lead her down that path.

One party changed everything

Schoolgirl Jeanette Aurdal (49) did what was expected. After growing up in Ålesund, the path went on to study and work in the City financial district in London.

For seven years she worked for the Swiss bank UBS. There she met her former husband, moved to the countryside in Kent, south-east of London, and had two children.

Although she worked and made shelves and play stands when the children were small, it was intended to return to the bank job. But a 40th birthday party in 2009 changed everything.

– I needed a present, and decided to make a swing. I carried it into the party and handed it to the birthday boy. To put it simply: It stole the show.

She didn’t know it then, but there and then The Oak & Rope Company was born.

From bank to workshop

After the party, it wasn’t many days before the orders started coming in. Stories about the swing spread.

Nothing came of the return to City. Instead, she bet on a carpentry workshop that would make more than just swings. There were breadcrumbs, shelves, door stoppers. In short: most things that can be made of wood – with a slight twist.

That dispute consists of engraving with self-developed font fontTypographic font or typeface.. Often a name is involved. But it can also be a saying, with a twist.

– Much of what I create actually begins with a saying, one that often has a slightly double meaning.

– A hidden natural talent that finally came to light?

– I have never attended a course to learn this, but I have had people around me who I have been able to ask. At one point I also inherited a lot of equipment.

The memory and the picture

Nor was it the result of a strategic plan, what happened in 2011. A few months before Prince William and Catherine Middleton were to marry, an order came for a swing, with the inscription “William & Catherine”.

– I immediately realized who was going to get it, says Aurdal. In retrospect, she also became suspicious of who the donor was: the then Prince Charles.

– But this became the company’s secret. None of us said anything about this to anyone.

Five years later the phone rang.

In connection with the third birthday of Crown Prince George, the newspapers had received some photos of the prince. On one of them he was standing on a swing. On the plank was scratched “William & Catherine”.

The call came from a journalist in The Daily Telegraph who wanted to know if the swing was made by The Oak & Rope Company.

– I answered very carefully, that it is possible that it is. At the same time, I wished the prince good luck with the day. Then I went on holiday.

Gave a powerful jump

It wasn’t much of a holiday. After the picture and article were in print, the orders poured in.

– It was like a rocket. It made us a well-known brand overnight, says Aurdal.

Husken is not the only thing the English royal family has shopped for.

Prince William received a bench as a 40th birthday present from his father. King Charles also made a very special order last autumn. He placed an order for 300 doorstops and 100 shoe removers. He was to give them as a Christmas present, in his capacity as the Duke of Cornwall and the Duke of Lancaster.

– But we have never used the story in a PR context. Whoever knows, knows.

Not just princes…

The royal orders are not the only ones that join orders of the slightly special kind.

Once, Aurdal received an order for a very special bench, with shelves and cabinets with special dimensions for various shoes and clothing items. The bench should read “Beckham’s Bench”.

– It wasn’t until I saw a documentary about the footballer David Beckham that I realized that the bench was for him.

And to the premiere party for the film Gravity in 2013, an order came in for 160 swings. Two of them ended up under the buttocks of actors Sandra Bullock and George Clooney.

New prime minister remember

In the middle of the covid pandemic, there was also an inquiry from Carrie Johnson, the wife of then Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

– When the stories started to leak out about parties, garden parties and broken play stands in the garden, we realized that we might have a small part of that story. I think the swing was bought to fix what had been broken.

Rarities that otherwise appear in the order basket are grave supports for pets and doll lids with engraved emblems. But despite the swing’s popularity: The most popular products are bread and cheese rolls.

– What I like to make the most are objects that are used every day.

Demand is increasing

The Oak & Rope Company has reached an annual turnover of NOK 13–14 million. The staff has eight employees.

Aurdal nevertheless does not take it for granted that the company will continue to do as well in the future.

– But 2024 has in any case started well. Sales have increased by 10 per cent, without us having increased prices.

The increase has occurred despite several people copying her products.

– I have learned to have a pragmatic attitude towards this. In many cases, the copies help to increase our sales. But it took me a long time to settle into thinking like that.