Our Story

Covessence was founded in 2021 by Hector Billingham, following over a decade spent building a successful corporate career. While the work had provided stability and structure, Hector had long felt a growing disconnect between what he did for a living and what actually inspired him. Travel had always played a major role in his life, and he had developed a habit of returning home from trips with distinctive furniture pieces - items that often sparked conversation due to their age, texture, and materials.

In 2017, during a trip to Portugal, Hector was introduced to a local woodworker named Florentin. Quiet and deeply skilled, Florentin was working out of a modest workshop using only reclaimed wood - sourcing everything from disused factories to derelict agricultural buildings. His pieces had presence. They felt lived-in, but elegant. That meeting stayed with Hector.

When the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted daily life in 2020, Hector - like many others - found himself with unexpected time to reflect. Away from the pressures of office life, he began revisiting ideas he had long put off. One of them was the creation of a furniture brand built around the kind of materials and craftsmanship he admired most: reclaimed wood with real provenance, shaped by hand rather than machines.

He reached out to Florentin with a proposal: move to the UK and help build a workshop dedicated to producing small runs of heirloom-quality furniture. In return, Hector would use his contacts to source premium reclaimed wood from extraordinary places - disused tobacco barns in Kentucky, Victorian schoolhouses in northern England, decommissioned French rail depots, and beyond.

Florentin, whose focus had always been on the work itself, was hesitant at first. But the opportunity to access wood with genuine history - and to create without compromise - was too rare to ignore. He relocated in May 2021, and Covessence officially launched shortly after.

Since then, Covessence has grown slowly and deliberately. Every item we produce is designed and made by a small team led by Florentin. No shortcuts. No veneers. Just honest materials, traditional joinery, and a belief that furniture should last - not just physically, but emotionally too.

We don’t mass-produce. We don’t chase trends. Every piece we create begins with materials that already have a story. Our belief is simple: beauty exists in what already is - you just need the right hands, and a little patience, to bring it out.

Click the button below to read more about how we find, choose, treat and build with the wood that goes into our one of a kind pieces.