Changing tack.

About 8 Years ago, at the age of 28, I was battling with some inner restlessness, not enjoying the carpentry work I was doing and wanting to challenge myself a bit more. This led me to a few big events in my life- one being a 1300km, 17 day bike ride along the coast from Melbourne to Sydney to raise $4000 to help build a school in Uganda; the other one naturally came from searching for more from my work.  

This may sound strange from a carpenter, but I just wanted to work with more timber, as most of the work I was doing was either covered in plaster or paint. I was also becoming more and more disgruntled with the wastage, poor design and lack of care within a lot of the building industry. I believe a house should have an essence or “soul” even before it has been lived in. A lot of new homes just have such an empty feel to them, coming from lack of care and time in their creation.

I tried to reach out to some businesses that did rammed earth and mud brick buildings as these homes are often built using more traditional elements of carpentry. With exposed reclaimed timber elements and features such as solid timber doors and windows, these designs are usually much more interesting and unique.

I was able to find some work with an “old school” carpenter in the north of Melbourne, who did a bunch of different work; from solid timber bench tops, kitchens, solid timber door and windows. This was a great step in the right direction for me, though unfortunately he was not able to offer me much work. These were the days where Julia Gillard was in power but being challenged for the right of power by Kevin 07. This was a strange time, as the unease in the highest ranks of parliament was felt within the building industry and effected consumer spending. Many people I would usually subcontract to therefore had no work.

So, what does one do with all this newfound time?

I have always been a very active individual and not great at sitting still, so I was not going to be idle. I started making small bits of timber furniture in my front yard, using reclaimed timber I had rescued from skips at building sites or that had come out of demolished houses I was working on.  

My ideas and designs were quite basic at the beginning, however there was large turning point when the hot water service at my rental property died. Upon having it replaced, the plumber kindly left the old one in the front yard and after passing this cylindrical burden a few times a day, my curiosity took hold. To my surprise, when I opened it up, apart from a little rust, I found that the internal cylinder was quite cool and a usable thickness to make things with. The interior had an enamel coting which cleaned up very well and suddenly I had a new form in my life to work with. My little mind was blown. Ideas came in thick and fast, the more I made, the more ideas came flooding. I used these predetermined forms in every way possible to make sculptural furniture pieces and from there, my first business was created, ‘Old2New Designs’.

I quickly outgrew my humble beginnings of working in my front yard. Dodging the rain was starting to frustrate me. Thankfully, I had found a great maker space in Melbourne called Spacetank.  I was in heaven and out of the dirt; with access to a bunch of woodworking machines, metal working and even a laser cutter. On top of this, I was around some great makers all with a wide range of skill sets.  This became like my second apprenticeship in learning to run my own business, an ongoing journey. I gathered skills in marketing my new works and just general woodworking skills from some great woodworkers. I also had people around to seek council on a wide range of problems with commissions pieces I would be working on at the time.  I learnt so much in this time, my designs grew in complexity and the quality of my work was becoming very finely tuned.  

As for the old hot water heaters, I think you can say I clocked them. I could not think of any other way they could possibly be used; my designs had outgrown these forms and I needed more freedom in my work and to not be restricted by these forms. They were the gateway to a world of creative exploration and the step I needed in my development as a maker, designer and artist.