As the recession takes hold, bedmaker Warren Evans can breathe a sigh of relief. Having lost his business in the last big slump of the early 1990s, he knows first-hand how tough it is to start up again.

"We are feeling incredibly healthy at the moment unlike the gloomy stories we hear every day. Turnover was up 40 per cent in December and we have recently had record weeks," says Evans. "It is such a relief after going through the bankruptcy in the 1990s and even in the middle of last year things didn't look good for us."

Having set up his bed-making business aged 17 in the basement of a workshop, with a £600 loan from his sister and some basic tools, 30 years on Evans has built up a solid reputation for high-quality beds made with care for the environment.

"I always liked woodwork and I wanted to work for myself. It was easy to sell my first bed because, in terms of advertising, all it took was a one-liner at the back of Time Out magazine and I was quickly selling one or two beds a week."

But the bankruptcy forced him to start all over again. "I lost my house and I lost other people's money, which was very dissatisfying, but the creditors were very understanding," he says.

It took a long time to recover and rebuild the business—this time with a loan from his mother. "It is only really in the past four or five years that we have had a lot of money to work with. We now have around 100 employees and four stores in London, and I am looking at locations for potential new shops," he says. Today the company is completely free of debt and has no outside investors, although Evans won't rule out getting one on board. "As long as they don't try to change the company's ethos," he says.

He has been lauded for his dedication to reducing the company's carbon footprint and when it moved to a 50,000 sq ft workshop in Walthamstow, east London, he invested in a biomass boiler to heat up the workshop using offcuts as fuel, which in turn has cut the waste that goes to landfill. New machinery, which makes better use of the wood, ensures that the beds are manufactured efficiently.

But the environment has always been at the forefront of the Warren Evans ethos. "We use only wood that is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FCS), meaning it is sourced sustainably. For some furniture manufacturers, unfortunately, it doesn't matter too much where wood comes from, and you can make a fortune because you can buy it with cheap labour, but I am afraid that is bad news for the future of the world," he says.

Sticking to his conviction has paid off: the number of customers is soaring and last year saw Evans pick up a host of awards, including The Observer 2008 ethical awards, and the company was included in the Sunday Times listing of the Best Green Companies.

Evans has run a partnership with the Big Issue Foundation for a few years, donating free beds to re-housed Big Issue vendors. The company also donates money to an orphanage in India every year. "I don't think I know anybody who wouldn't like to be socially responsible, but we all get snowed under," he says. "It is all small stuff and a lot of people do so much for me."

Although he is passionate about being good to the environment, Evans insists that his company is about more than that. "This is about making beds that last—that look as good after 20 years,"  he says. "When you deliver what you say you will to the customer, you get recommendations. I believe we are reaping the rewards of good-quality beds and good customer service."