Tim Stead: Magician with Wood

This film is an inspirational story about the innovative wood sculptor and furniture designer Tim Stead and his widow Maggy’s rollercoaster journey as she battles to secure the future of their unique home, The Steading. It is a Grade A-listed work of art, sculpted from wood by Tim in the Scottish Borders. Can Maggy and her friends protect Tim’s legacy to inspire future generations to create and work with wood? Or will it be lost forever? “Just a big bonfire,” as Maggy says in a moment of despair.

In parallel, the film weaves the remarkable stories of the passionate people who worked with Tim to explore how he evolved as a profound but accessible artist and his role in the creation of some of Scotland’s most popular public art, like the interior of Café Gandolfi in Glasgow and the Millennium Clock at the National Museum of Scotland. The film traces how Tim’s belief to put back in more than he took out of the environment led to pioneering the creation of the first community woodland in Britain which kickstarted the community land ownership movement in Scotland and internationally.  

It is a story about the bonds of love and grief, loyalty and friendship, collaboration and community alongside our relationship with trees, and Nature as a catalyst for our creativity and well-being in the face of climate change.

“If we didn’t have trees, our planet would be dead,” reflects Giles Sutherland.