A wonderful aspects of working with wood, is knowing a little about its origin, especially if it’s being reused. This elegant work, which I’m really proud of, is a case in point. The top is made from flooring joists and an old Kauri door from a cafe in mount Eden. The Kauri balustrades on the other hand, are from Ranfurly House in Three Kings, Auckland. There are 120 of them, and they are also 120 years old.
Rimu Round Table
Reconstructed Oak Coffee Table
Pointless
Everyone's from Somewhere Else
Gorley
Gorley is an individual sculptural piece developed from salvaged kauri having a painted and stained finish. The work was inspired by the village of Gorley near to where I grew up, with the common sight of donkeys grazing. Its origins were derived from two different sources with the centre form, once a finial - an architectural piece from a building.
It's Furniture Man
It's Furniture Man priced at $850 are a set of two sculptural pieces derived from salvaged materials of kauri, mahogany and pine timbers. Each individual piece of timber was chosen for its inherent shape and form and a process of experimentation occurred with the final 'human figures' positioned side by side.
Invisible Door
Top and Tail
This sculpture uses a series of carefully placed cut plywood blocks to form two opposing triangles. At a basic level, this piece evokes the eternal opposites: light and darkness; good and evil; yin and yang; creation and destruction. Like two sides of the same coin, one entity needs the other in order to exist.
Balustrade Table
This work is made almost entirely from recycled pine balustrades, which are sanded, primed, then repainted. It’s a simple, but elegant design made to last – with robust mortise and tenon joinery. I have a slight obsession about slicing through balustrades; I always think it’s a bit like looking back through time. The unusual unexpected patterns are a real bonus too.
Time Table
This table represents three different aspects of time. First, the salvaged legs were re-turned, quartered, and then turned ‘inside- out’, exposing the ‘hidden history’ of the inside of the form, exposing new wood wrapped in an old ‘skin’ – while immediately placing the table into a contemporary context.
Eking it Out
A conglomeration of table legs forming a piece of functional art. Eking it Out can be used as a table or simply as objet D’art. This piece is made from a large variety of timbers. In a sense it is recycled twice, as all the pieces are off-cuts from other projects, which were also created from recycled material.