ABOUT IOHU / ROOTED IN SOUTH WALES

A different way
to see potential.

It started with waste wood.
Then came the question: what else could we use?

01 / HOW IT BEGAN

Useful material.
Another possibility.

IoHu grew from my time working with a local charity, where part of my role involved turning waste wood into useful products. That experience made me increasingly aware of the materials businesses were throwing away—and curious about what else they could become.

I don’t like seeing useful resources wasted. I started IoHu to explore whether surplus materials could become the starting point for practical products, helping businesses make better use of what they already have.

Andrew Roberts · Founder, IoHu

02 / FROM MATERIAL TO PRODUCT

Find it. Explore it.
Make it useful.

We start with what’s available—and ask whether it can become something people have a reason to use.

01

Understand the material

What is it? What condition is it in? How much is there, where is it, and how regularly does it arise?

02

Test the opportunity

Explore possible uses, speak to potential users and consider suitability, production costs and demand.

03

Find the right partners

Work with suitable social enterprises, makers or manufacturers to develop a practical route to production.

Sometimes the next useful product could go back to the business—or industry—the material came from.

Where there’s a suitable fit, we aim to work with social enterprises on production, creating paid work and supporting their long-term sustainability. Other projects may involve specialist makers or manufacturers.

03 / WHERE WE ARE NOW

Early days.
Practical steps.

IoHu is at an early stage. Following our win in the Visiativ and Welsh ICE Product Founders Challenge, we’re developing our first Load Series idea using industrial straps and gathering information through Material Discovery.

Alongside this, we’re making wooden products as a practical starting point and building the company’s foundations. Our focus is on testing opportunities carefully and developing products people have a reason to use.

Tell us about your materials

04 / BEHIND THE NAME

IoHu / YOHU

IoHu takes its name from the beginnings of my sons’ middle names, Iolo and Huw. A personal starting point, with room for new ideas to grow.

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