Raphael Meade

Ask Raphael what is his strongest memory and he’ll tell you hearing his grand mother say, “There’s no such thing as can’t. You will or you won’t. Find a way.” Raphael Meade is today an accomplished carpenter and joiner having honed his skills from the tender age of 6; Always could he be found with his hands in something either dismantling or reassembling because he wanted to know how it worked.

He is a slim built ectomorph that has always looked young for his age and always wanted to be a ballet dancer. Life choices took him in a different direction. He is a martial arts instructor, coach and carpentry teacher as well as a ‘fixer’ and advisor. As a martial artist he infuriated his instructor because although he had the ability, he procrastinated in not becoming as good as he could have been. His preference is in coaching others, especially those with low self esteem and shyness. “The beauty is to see someone you never thought would, blossom.”

In the building industry he became known as a ‘fixer,’ a problem solver. As part of a team he worked on one of the properties on Tv’s Grand Designs. The straw house in north London. To this day he remains friends with Sarah Wigglesworth, the owner and has from time to time popped in to do remedial works.

Most notable thing of recent is his Tesco Food Love stories advert June 2020 which came about because of his cast appearance in the Chanel 4 ‘Docu-Reality show Eden where he lived and worked as a carpenter for a number of months before leaving under protest from the behaviour of other cast members. Raphael Meade is a person that stands up for the underdog. This lead to him befriending the one individual who was bullied… They remain friends to this day.

On leaving Eden, life has never been the same. With his now, new side kick (Anton) he has gone from concrete city boy, to off grid able, learned to row a boat – down the Thames – tie knots and took part in the last recorded ice skating Swedish Viking Run in Sweden 2017. He has appeared in many tv dramas and films as an SA (supporting Artist) and still carries out bespoke carpentry works.