My Favourite Room: After learning a Japanese fire trick to clad her house, Sasha Stewart turned it into a business

Timber featured several times in entrepreneur Sasha Stewart’s back story, but it wasn’t until she and her husband, Andre, built their own house that she realised it would become a big part of her present life

Sasha’s house was designed by architect Des Ewing and it’s clad in toasted wood all burned by Sasha. She taught herself how to do the charring aided by some tips from professionals in America. Picture by Tony Gavin.

Mary O'Sullivan

Northern Irish entrepreneur Sasha Stewart runs a company called Toasted and while that sounds like a hot-sandwich-making enterprise, it couldn’t be further from the truth — though there is heat involved.

Sasha’s unusual business is all about charring timber for houses, whether it’s for exterior cladding or interior details like feature walls. Originally based on a Japanese art form known as shou sugi ban, Sasha has worked on many homes over the last six years, though she originally only learned how to char the wood for personal reasons. When she and her husband, Andre, were building their own wonderful home, she saw the idea on Pinterest and decided it was the way to make their exterior interesting.